Dumbledore's Army: A Broadway Musical
by RainbowBarfingUnicorn
Summary: When Ron walked into Three Broomsticks that evening, little did he know that he would bombarded by a disturbing, slightly sparkling stranger, a rapping Ginny, a conceited Fleur, and a Neville who really likes his plants. Soon, he learns that his life will take a strangely musical turn, bringing them into an unpredictable adventure! How will he survive this?
1. Ron Weasely, Surely?

**Hello readers! This is my first fanfic so I am super excited! I wrote this with PJOandHP4life, so we both uploaded it on our accounts! Enjoy! :)**

 **Disclaimer: The amazing masterpiece that is Hamilton belongs to Lin-Manuel Miranda, and the fabulous work of art Harry Potter is belongs to J.K Rowling**

A young man was strolling down the cobblestone streets in London, England through the stormy winter weather. On a little magical street called Diagon Alley, there sat a little butterbeer shop called The Three Broomsticks. He turned at the next corner headed toward a familiar shop he often visited when he had free time after studious college classes.

It was a warm and cozy shop, with a roaring fire, and the redheaded boy walked in to sit at worn wooden table. He ordered a glass of butterbeer when a waitress came by asking for his order. A few minutes later he sat there sipping a hot drink of butterbeer reading the Daily Prophet, pulling his cloak around him tighter against the biting winter storm outside as the door opened suddenly.

A sparkling stranger walked in with a dark blue cloak drawn against himself. His sparkly appearance turned many heads as he walked in.

Ron disregarded the strange man since he had a tiring day in class. Professor Snape was getting on his nerves. There was this annoying girl who is a total teachers pet that had the audacity to correct his pronunciation as he was called to speak in the front of the class.

Absorbed in his thoughts, he barely even noticed when the stranger tapped his shoulder.

"Pardon me, are you Ronald Weasley?"

 _What the crap? I can't even have a peaceful 15 minutes in this effing coffee shop!_ He thought disdainfully.

"That depends. Who's asking?" he said, raising a condescending eyebrow.

He half hoped the strange sparkly man would just leave him alone at this blunt and noncommittal response.

Sadly the guy seemed to be oblivious to his tone of voice and therefore continued to talk.

"Oh, well surely my name is Cedric Diggory." the man sat down across from Ron, as the redhead like to be called, and leaned closer.

"I have been watching you." he said, waggling his eyebrows in a suggestive way.

Ron leaned away prepared to yell, "Rape!" if necessary.

"Uh." he mumbled not sure if he should run or stay. "I'm getting nervous…" he finished lamely.

Cedric only smiled at him and made no move to lean back as he continued to speak. "Surely, I heard your name at Hogwarts. I was seeking someone to bathe with?" he said the last like it was a question, grinning.

Ron didn't respond to that.

Cedric just continued talking without showing any hesitance at the other man's silence.

"When I got sort of out of sorts with a buddy of yours."

He paused.

"I may have asked him out. It's a blur, sir. He's the chosen one?"

Ron looked at the guy now with even more surprise, and suspicion, as he mentioned Ron's best and possibly only friend at Hogwarts, his college.

"You asked Harry Potter?" he said bluntly.

Cedric seemed happy that Ron was talking to him again and was quick to respond.

"Yes!" he answered eagerly.

"I wanted to do what you did, get with Potter and defeat the dark lord."

Cedric suddenly took on a slightly hurt and confused face.

"He looked at me like I was gay."

 _Really! I wonder why?_ Thought Ron as he was giving Cedric the same look at this very moment.

Ron gave him a look.

"I'm NOT gay!" Cedric said childishly.

Ron raised an eyebrow.

"I _think_..." mumbled Cedric as he took a moment to think.

After a few minutes of Cedric thinking over his sexuality and Ron Siriusly considering just walking out to find another place to relax.

Cedric finally said "So how'd you do it? How did you get with Harry Potter?"

 _I'm NOT with Harry Potter! What is he thinking?!_ Ron thought.

"Bloody hell! What type of drugs are you smoking, son?!" Ron exclaimed preparing to just leave.

Cedric grinned.

"You are a druggie! Of course!" he said.

 _Not your typical reaction. But then again, this guy doesn't seem to do "typical"._ Ron thought.

"Can I…" Ron wasn't sure what he was going to say at this point. "Um, buy you some butterbeer?" he blurted out unexpectedly.

 _What? Why did I say that?_

Cedric smiled.

"That would be nice." he said " _Really_ nice, if you know what I mean." he winked repeatedly, but Ron decided to just ignore that.

Ron sighed dejectedly realizing that he just got himself into serious trouble.

 _Whatever I'm just gonna go with it at this point._

He went to the counter, and came back a few minutes later holding two glasses of butterbeer. He slid one across the table to Cedric and began to open his, he had a feeling he was going to need it.

Across the table, Cedric was shamelessly taking gigantic swigs of his butterbeer.

He's gonna get drunk. Crap, I need to say something.

Ron decided to say something before he had a drunk Cedric on his hands.

"So while we're here let me offer you some free advice." he blurted out.

Cedric looked up, butterbeer dribbling down his chin.

"What?" he said confused.

"Shut up." Ron said firmly.

Cedric looked even more confused.

"Survive."

"Huh?" Cedric said.

"Stay away from the Dark Lord and maybe you won't die." he stated.

 _Well, of course he should stay away from Voldemort. He's a mass murderer. What am I saying?_

Cedric raised his eyebrows.

"Surely you can't be Sirius?"

"No, I am Ronald Weasley and don't call me surely, either."

"Okay."

"Fools who fight the Dark Lord wind up dead."

At this point, Cedric seemed to have completely forgotten about his drink. It was working. Cedric leaned in, as if he couldn't hear Ron right, confused.

Then everything got even weirder.

Three maniacs, also known as Ron's classmates, walked or more like barged into the shop.

"A YO YO YO YO WHAT TIME IS IT?!" yelled a little red-headed girl. She was small, but she sure had a set of lungs on her.

The other two young adults yelled in response, "SHOWTIME!"

"Like I said….?" Ron was saying, but turned around to see the spectacle.

"SHOWTIME, SHOWTIME!" the two continued.

"My name is Ginny Weasley in the place to be! Two pints of butterbeer, but I'm working on three! Those dementors don't wanna with me, 'cuz I will EXPECTO PATRONUM til I am home free!"

 _What the crap?! What was his little sister doing here?! And why was she rapping?!_

"Oui oui mon ami je m'appelle Delacour!

This cause against ze Voldemort I am fighting for!

I came from afar just to say 'Ta Gueule!'

Tell ze Dark Lord 'Casse-toi!'

Who is the best?

C'est moi."

 _Oh look at how pretty Fleur is… Wow I didn't know she can rap. That is so hot._

Ron realized he was staring and blushed, averting his eyes quickly before Ginny caught sight of his face.

A shy chubby boy shuffled in, rapping in a quieter voice.

 _Wait is that…. What the heck?! Neville can rap?!_

"Uh, um, I am sorta Neville, up in it, lovin' it

Heard Professor Sprout say come again!"

"Ayy!" yelled the other two girls cheering Neville on.

"Lock up your toads and your mandrakes

Of course, it's hard to have some fun with over four types of species… If you know what I mean."

Everyone one was silent as they tried to digest this new information about quiet, but apparently not so innocent, Neville.

Ginny recovered first and continued their rapping.

"Woah no more plants pour me some butterbeer son! Let's raise another more..."

"TO THE GREAT CHOSEN ONE!"

They exclaimed, raising glasses of butterbeer. Some sloshed on the table, making Madam Rosmerta glare at the rowdy group from behind the bar.

No one paid them any more attention, except Ron, who blushed hard, and tried to clean it up with some spare napkins, to no avail.

Suddenly, the door swung open, and it was none other than Harry Potter standing in the doorway.

When he saw them, he smiled, and pulled a chair up to their overcrowded table.

He sat between Ginny and Fleur, which also happened to be the furthest position from the now widely grinning Cedric.

"Well, if it ain't the prodigy of Dumbledore's Army and College?

"Harry Potter."

"Give us a verse, drop some knowledge."

"Good luck with this, we're taking a stand. You sit, I'm a spit, we'll see where we stand."

"Potter, the revolution is dangerous, do you want to DIE?" said a sneering voice behind them.

Everyone turned around in surprise, to see a scowling Draco Malfoy.

"'Cuz if that's what you want, I'm here to wish you good luck."

"Bloody hell." muttered Ron. "What the eff?!" said Ginny. "Quel putain?!" said Fleur. "What the Heck?!" said Neville

"Who the eff is this ferret and what's it gonna do?" finished all of them together.

 **Yay, there it is! My first chapter! That was fun! Please write reviews, the feedback is welcome!**

 **The unicorn (me) shall be back to write the next chapter!**

 **-RBU**


	2. The Slytherin Ferrets

**Yay, hello! I'm back! It's the end of the year, but me and PJOandHP4life finally got off our lazy butts and wrote another chapter! This one is pretty exciting, I hope everyone is ready for SOME TOTAL RONMIONE NOT REALLY BUT KIND OF YEAH!**

Ron was walking around in the Hogwarts courtyard after a _long_ day of studying for the O.W.L.S. He was free from his school responsibilities… at least until Monday.

He sighed and sat down by a tree for shade after checking to make sure it wasn't the weeping willow.

Ron hated O.W.L.S. season. There's always so many people stressed. The professors stack up piles of homework and studying assignment for them to finish. And not only that but it's at the end of the school year. Everyone just wants to go outside and have fun, but instead they have to stay inside of the library all freaking day.

Well almost everyone.

There's this one girl that isn't like all the rest.

She's always early for class.

She gets straight Outstandings (or as the students call them Os).

She is friend with every teacher. (Except Snape, but he seems to be unable to have friends at all.)

Her uniform is always freshly ironed with her shirt tucked in and her shoes shined.

Hermione Jean Granger

This girl was not only perfect but beautiful too. She had the most amazing curly chestnut brown hair. Her eyes were hazel and bright, from all the knowledge she stuffs in her head from books no doubt. Her smile is amazing, when she smiles that is. All Ron has ever seen from her is a smirk, glare, or grimace.

She used to be ugly when they were both first years. But now in their fourth year...

 _Well let's just say puberty has been, very kind._

 _Wait what? No, no, no, no, NO! I do NOT like her! She is annoying, a smart alec, stunning, kind, and… Wait NO!_

Surprisingly an annoying voice that sounded a lot like Ginny responded.

 _Are you sure about that?_

 _Yes I am!_

 _Okay… If you say so…._

 _Shut up._

While Ron was having this internal debate that he was sorely losing, Harry walked over and sat next to him.

"Hey Ron, I have something to show you."

….

"Ron?"

Still no response from the daydreaming ginger.

"Ronald Weasley?"

Nothing.

"RON!"

Ron was still oblivious to the famous boy sitting next to him.

After a few minutes of waving his hand in front of his best friends face, Harry resorted to desperate measures.

"Ron do you see Fleur! That's a nice new swimsuit she's sporting, eh?"

Ron quickly snapped out of it.

"WHAT?! Where? Is my hair good? WHERE IS SHE?!"

Harry fell over laughing at his friend's response.

Ron slowly realized that he had been played.

"Ha, ha, ha very funny Harry."

Harry didn't respond as he will still laughing along with some other people that had observed his reaction.

Ron almost got up and left, but Harry stopped him as he finished his laughing fit.

"Wait! Ron I had something to show you." He said as Ron relaxed back into his position. Ron eyed him warily, but decided to listen to what he had to say. "Okay, what is it?"

Harry smiled a smile that made Ron regret his decision to stay seated.

"Well… I have been working with some of the other students to start a theatre club." He said excitedly. Ron must not have heard him right. Harry hated the spotlight. Why would he want to start a theatre club? He got enough attention as it is with him being "The Chosen One".

"Why would you do that?" asked Ron voicing his confusion.

Harry looked a little disappointed by his friend response,but quickly shook it off. "Well I heard of this American musical Hamilton and it inspired me to become an actor." he said. He pulled out an American wizarding newspaper with a moving man in an American Revolutionary soldier's uniform on stage.

"It also allowed me to realize that a lot of our friend are good rappers and some even sing!" Harry added.

 _Oh._

 _So that explains what happened yesterday._

 _Well it explains everything except Cedric, but then again what can explain Cedric._

"So what have you guys accomplished so far?" Ron asked.

Harry was so happy that Ron supported his decision that he hugged him. Then they quickly stopped to maintain their manliness. "Well we have started to make a musical based of of Hamilton." he said.

"Well? What is it called?" asked Ron.

Harry smiled widely.

"We're calling it…. Dumbledore's Army: A Wizarding Musical." he said with a dramatic pause and jazz hands for effect.

Ron stared at him blankly.

"Okay…So how far are you in developing it?"

Harry quickly jumped up and grabbed Ron's arm to drag him up into a standing position.

"Well you already got a sneak peak at The Three Broomsticks. However, we are about to show another one right about... now!"

Suddenly music started playing out of nowhere and Harry started rapping.

 _What the …?_

"There's nothing purebloods love more than going to Hogsmeade and slummin' it with mudbloods."

Harry started walking toward Hogsmeade with a crowd of fellow students while dragging along a very confused Ron.

"They pull up in slytherin cloaks and gawk at young wizards in the courtyard just to watch them talk." He pointed to some students that were cheering him on.

"Take Lucius Malfoy: The man is loaded. Uh-oh, but little does he know that his son Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle sneak into the town just to watch the witches at-"

Everyone that had followed them to Hogsmeade suddenly all sang together finishing his sentence.

"Work, work!"

Draco and Crabbe walked out of Hogwarts just in time.

A disgustingly chubby Crabbe waddled forward for his music number.

"Craaa-"

"SHUT UP!" Draco yelled. "Dracooooo"

"Work, work." repeated the chorus of students.

Crabbe grinned excitedly for his music number. "Craaaaaabbbbeeee."

"Work, work!"

A skinny tall Goyle ran out of nowhere, his hair completely messy, who clearly slept in.

"And Goyle!" he yelled, making it there right on time, pushing between Draco and Crabbe. Draco glared at him, his nose wrinkling in disgust at his disheveled appearance.

"The Slytherin Ferrets!"

"Dracoooo!" Draco sang.

"Goyle!" Goyle mumbled sleepily, running a hand through his hair.

"Crabbe!" Crabbe sang with a mouth full of cakes, that he pulled out of one of his bulging pockets, stolen from the kitchen no doubt.

"Work!" they all yelled, snapping their fingers in the air in a diva pose.

"Father said to staaaay away from mudbloods." sang Goyle, quite horribly off key.

"Father doesn't need to knoooowww." said Draco, winking at Hermione.

Harry felt Ron tense next to him, but then relax as Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Father said not to go downtown." sang Goyle, once again off key.

"Like I said, you're free to goooooo" sang Draco, grinning.

Crabe stepped forward and twirled around like a little girl, his stomach fat jiggling horribly "But—look around, look around, the food is all in the kitchenssssss…"

"Kitchensssssss" Goyle and Draco repeated dreamily.

"Work!" they yelled, snapping their fingers in the air.

 _Okay what the heck is going on? And why do Crabbe and Goyle think they can sing?_

 _Also, who knew Draco could sing? Or that Harry could rap? I'm so confused…._

Ron had seen a lot of strange things during his years at Hogwarts, but as he stood there, openmouthed in the courtyard, he was pretty sure this was at the top of the list.

"It's bad enough father wants to war." sang Goyle, pretty badly.

"Deatheater killing everywhere!" sang Crabbe as he ogled some butterbeer through a window of The Three Broomsticks.

"It's bad enough that we have O.W.L.S. to study for." sang Goyle, with his voice cracking on "for".

"The Dark Lord's mark is in the air!" sang Draco showing off his forearm tattoo.

Everyone crowded around them singing, "Look around, look around!"

Crabbe nudged Draco's arm.

"Draco remind me what we are looking for?'

A bunch of slytherin girls crowded around Draco.

"He's looking for me!"

Draco shoved them all out of his way.

"I'm looking for a ferret to $^*&^!

I'm looking for a ferret to ****!

Woah, woah!" he sang.

"Woahh, woahh" the chorus sang in reply.

"****!" the chorus yelled.

 _Neville and his plants, and now Draco and his ferrets._ Ron thought.

How could this get weirder?

As if to answer his thoughts, Pansy Parkinson nearly catwalks out of the crowd, attempting to flip her overly greasy dark hair.

She stopped in front of Draco, with her hands on her hips, and she winked.

"There's nothing like summer in Hogsmeade. Someone in a rush meets someone looking pretty." she grinned, and Draco looked as if he would empty his lunch out on the grass.

" _Excuse_ me, mister." she said in an over-the-top flirtatious tone, fluttering her fingers over his chin. He swatted her fingers away rubbing fiercely at his chin as if her touch burned him.

"I know it's not funny, but your broomstick looks like your father's got money." she said ignoring his obvious discomfort as she gestured to his new Nimbus 2001 broom.

"Why are you slumming in the city on your fancy broom? You searchin' for a girl who can make your heart go boom?" she said, her voice going sickeningly sweet.

"Pansy, you disgust me." he said.

"Ah, so you've discussed me." she said unfazed by his obvious disinterest.

"I'm a basilisk honey, I'll keep your secrets." she said winking, and she put her hand on her face dramatically, like a damsel in distress, and tried to pretend-faint on Draco, hoping he would romantically catch her.

Instead, he stepped backwards, allowing her to fall onto the grass into a pile of hippogriff poop.

 _Well This just got entertaining._ Ron thought as he sat back and watched eating a some of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans Harry offered him.

She got up, wrinkling her nose at the stench of the poop in her hair and outfit.

"Aughg!" she said.

Draco grinned.

"You want a romance, I think you'd prefer a revelation." he said, eying her and what she was wearing.

"Good thing that outfit's ruined, the only thing that would save it anyways is an invisibility cloak."

"Oooo" went the crowd.

"And when you meet my father," he started.

"Ugh!" said the crowd.

"I'm gonna compel him to keep _you_ out of my sight!" he finished. Crabbe and Goyle high fived him from behind at the same time as he completed his burn.

"Oh!" the crowd yelled.

"Look around, look around, at how lucky we are to be alive right now!" he sang.

"Look around, look around, at how lucky we are to be alive right now!" he and Crabbe sang.

"Voldemort just happened to be rising in Hogwarts and Ron's got Every Flavor Jelly Beeeeeeans!" Goyle ended.

"What?" said Crabbe turning around so fast that Ron was surprised his neck didn't snap.

Crabbe nearly ran forward and took the container out of Ron's hands.

"Bloody hell," Ron mumbled.

"There's only one jelly bean left!" Crabbe said pouting like a spoiled child, as he stuffed it in his mouth, and then his face contorted in disgust.

"Ear wax flavor!" he yelled, spitting it onto the grass.

Harry was laughing hard, and Hermione whispered in Ron's ear " _Serves him right…_ ", as the crows was laughing.

He turned to look at her in surprise. _Hermione just sided with me?_ he thought, but no words came out. She was laughing silently, too, and she grinned at him.

 _Woah…_

 _Snap out of it!_ He reminded himself firmly.

He looked up to see the Slytherin ferrets finishing their song.

"Work, work!" sand the crowd.

"Draacoooo"

"Work, work!"

"Craaaaabbe"

"And Goyle.." said Goyle, falling asleep against a nearby tree.

Draco got up, and aggressively shook him awake.

"Huh?!" he yelled.

"The Slytherin ferreeets" they all sang together.

"We're looking for a ferret to *&^%!"

"In the greatest school in the woooooooorrrrrlddd" sang Draco

"In the greatest school in the wooooorrrrrrrlddd" finished off Crabbe and Goyle, off key.

Then, all they heard where the cicadas chirping in the Forbidden Forest.

At this point, the sun began to set in the horizon, and the crowd shuffled sleepily into Hogwarts, onwards to the common rooms.

Ron turned to Harry who was smiling widely at him.

"What the bloody hell was that?!" he said to his still grinning friend.

"That, my friend, was The Slytherin Ferrets from Dumbledore's Army: A Wizarding Musical."

 **This chapter was fun to write! I loved putting in those not-so-subtle hints about RONMOINE WHICH IS MY SHIP YESSSSSSSSSSS I COULD FANGIRL ABOUT THIS ALL DAY THEY ARE SO SWEET AND ADORABLE AND PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER RON KINDA LIKES FLEUR BUT HERMIONE IS TOTALLY HIS TRUE LOVE JIDFOAWJI;FJEIKAW;JHFIE;OWDJAHIF;OJDIA;WSOJGFIEJR'AIGO;'JEIAWO;'JFIOEP'JAWOP'JGFDOPD'JGAOFPEJAWOPFJ'EWOAP'JFEOPWJOP'**

 **So sorry. I couldn't really help it. XD Please review and favorite and follow and all that stuff! Yay, thanks for reading!**

 **-RBU**


	3. Hermione and Hamilton

**HEEEEELLLLLOOOOOO THE UNICORN IS HERE**

 **Although the other chapters were a little, um, crazy and musical, this one is slightly toned down. I really like this one especially because of ALL THE RONMIONE. Sit back and enjoy! :)**

After his….interesting experience of Harry's musical, Ron witnessed he decided to look up this American musical "Hamilton" before classes resumed on tomorrow on Monday. He sat on his bed in the Gryffindor boys dormitory while Harry was at quidditch practice. He was alone in the room as the other boys had gone to Hogsmeade for some butterbeer excluding Neville. He had gone down to visit Professor Sprout claiming he had some questions for the herbology O.W.L.s exam.

H _owever, I'm not so sure about what Neville's true intentions are at this point._

Harry had lent him this muggle device called a "laptop computer" that he dug out of the Dursley's recycling when they were out. Ron would imagine his dad would go bonkers if he found it.

Ron on the other hand had not the slightest interest in it until now and therefore had no idea on how to work it. He had only ever dealt with magic and that car his dad had, but after his horrid experience with it his second year…. He decided to leave all muggle inventions alone.

There were so many buttons he didn't know which one to push. He wishes there could just be a button that said the word "on", but alas there was none. For the past hour he has been wasting away his Saturday afternoon hitting random buttons and searching through spell books he found in the library to turn the darn thing on.

And Ron _hated_ visiting the library.

At this point Ron was seriously considering throwing the thing at the wall, but didn't act on it since he didn't want to upset Harry.

There was another option…

Ron could always ask Hermione.

Her parents were muggles so she would know what to do with the thing. She wasn't far either. The girl had been inside of the Gryffindor common room all day studying in a seat by the window, not that Ron had been watching her or anything.

This idea had been floating around in his mind for the past twenty minutes, but Ron just couldn't get himself to go and ask her.

 _That's because you're too much of a ninny to go and talk to her._

That stupid annoying Ginny voice was in his head again, but Ron was determined to ignore it.

 _You can't ignore me. I'm your subconscious._

Ron gave up ignoring the voice and responded.

 _On yeah? Watch me!_

The voice only laughed.

 _Well if you are so set on ignoring me what do you call that response?_

Ron started blushing, which would have looked odd to anyone else in the room since there was nothing embarrassing happening to him to the outside eye. However, Ron and his subconscious were currently alone.

 _Shut up!_ He responded once again breaking his promise to ignore his subconscious.

 _I'm not technically talking. Anyway you should be down in the common room asking for Hermione's help. Sadly you won't due to your huge crush on her._

Ron practically choked on his own spit at that.

 _ME?! Have a crush on HERMIONE?! You must be daft! Anyway I like Fleur way more than that wise witch._

He could practically feel his subconscious roll its eyes.

 _Well logically if I'm daft, you must be as well. And that crush on Fleur is purely from her looks. You like Hermione for much more than that._

Ron only answered in a stubborn voice.

 _Am not!_

His subconscious was practically smirking at him at this point.

 _Oh really? Then why don't you man up and go ask her for help._

Ron got up to do just exactly that.

 _Fine! I will!_

He went towards the door with the purpose to go and confront Hermione on his trouble with the "computer", determined to prove his subconscious wrong.

 _It's almost too easy._ His subconscious stated smugly, but Ron paid it no attention as his determined mind was set on talking to Hermione.

When he got to the common room, Ron found Hermione exactly as she was ten minutes ago when he saw her as he came back from another trip to the library. Her long curly brown hair was put up in a ponytail as she read her transfiguration book. She was wearing some muggle clothing as if she planned on not leaving the room any time soon. Her eyebrows were furrowed in concentration as she read, not noticing anything else around her.

 _Wow she's cute when she's reading._

Ron immediately dismissed this thought from his brain as she looked up at him, finally noticing his presence.

 _Crap I was staring at her! Alright Ron act cool like Fred and George. Act natural._

Of course he naturally tripped and fell immediately after trying to take a step toward her.

She muffled a laugh as she put her book down to give him a hand.

Ron clumsily took her hand with his clammy one as he got up.

Once he was standing, Hermione took back her hand discreetly wiping it on her sweat pants. Suddenly an awkward silence settled upon the young witch and wizard. Ron's confidence had completely dissipated as soon as he tripped. He now stood in front of her as she sat in her seat patiently expecting him to talk.

Hermione sighed as she soon realized that Ron wasn't going to talk on his own any time soon so she decided to break the ice.

"Well? Can I help you Ronald?"

That shook him out of his shyness.

Ron rolled his eyes and responded ashe usually did when she spoke to him so formally.

"I've told you a million times Hermione, my name is Ron so please call me Ron." he said exasperation clear in his voice.

Hermione smiled as he responded as she planned.

"Well I had to get you to relax and talk somehow." she replied as her smile grew when he turned red.

"Shut up." Ron said weakly as he tried to will his brush away to no avail.

Hermione just ignored his attempt at a snide remark.

"Now that you have regained your ability of speech, will you tell me why you have sought my presence?"

Ron didn't respond immediately as he was in a trance from her formal speech.

 _I never knew that speaking formally could be so attractive until now...Woah Ron snap out of it she just said something! Respond you twat!_

Ron slowly remember he had a reason to be there and sputtered as he tried to form a response.

"Um, well, uh, you see, um, my friend Harry, uh Harry Potter—"

"I know who Harry Potter is Ron. He's my friend as well." Hermione said stopping Ron from talking too much.

"Oh right, um yeah, but anyway, he sort of gave me this muggle thing. I'm trying to figure it out but it's so stupid! I mean! Um, not that muggles are stupid! Like, um, I'm sure your parents are great! I'm sorry, I uh, don't know what to say about this, um" he gestured at the laptop pointlessly, before blurting out "You know what I think you understand what I am saying so I am going to shut up before I say anything else dumb!" he finished abruptly.

Hermione laughed.

"Honestly, Ron? What has you so shaken up today?"

Ron found himself not saying anything, and looking at her brown eyes, sparkling with humor.

 _Wow…._

He gaped at her with his mouth open.

"Don't tell me Fleur asked to borrow your pencil again!" she teased, giggling, her head tilted forward slightly as she laughed, so her curls framed her face.

Ron found himself thinking distractedly about how close they were, only, perhaps, the length of Snape's greasy hair.

 _How romantic._

If Ron hadn't been so mesmerized by her presence, he would have noticed the flash of jealousy in her eyes as she talked about Fleur.

"You know," she said. "Harry told me all about that time you tripped over yourself to help Fleur pick up her books she dropped."

"It's not like that!" he blurted, unable to restrain himself.

" _Reeeeeeally_?" she said raising an eyebrow, looking slightly pleased, although at this point, nothing was registering with Ron.

Before Ron could respond, she said "Okay, so let's see that laptop you can't figure out."

She grinned, taking it from him.

Their fingers touched for a second, and Ron felt as if it sent a flame through him he could feel from his feet to his face, which flushed red, accordingly.

Hermione turned her face suddenly around, as if to see something in the back of the common room, although Ron could have sworn he saw a small blush creep up her cheeks.

 _It must be the lighting_.

"Um, sooooo…" she said looking over his computer. He leaned over to see the screen, and their proximity made Hermione flush a scarlet that couldn't be mistaken.

"Uh, sorry." he said awkwardly, backing off, but Hermione spoke over him.

"This is the power button. It is on the side of the computer, and if you press it, the screen will light up. " she said, much too loudly.

She opened it. "This is the keyboard, and you use it to write on the screen, like this. It's like a quill." Ron nodded.

"Here's the mouse. You won't really need it, because this is a touchscreen computer." He didn't really know what a touchscreen was, but hopefully it was what it sounded like.

He swallowed hard and nodded.

She handed him the computer back.

"Um, sorry." he said, "And thanks. That too. At the same time."

Hermione grinned genuinely.

"If you need my help, just ask. I'm going to be staying in the common room for a while anyways. Um, you know..." she broke eye contact and looked at the floor, "O.W.L.s, to, um, like, study for. Yeah."

 _I wonder why she's so shy all of a sudden. It's probably stress from constant studying._ Ron thought.

He could practically feel his subconscious facepalming, although he couldn't figure out why...

He looked at the wall, mulling this all over in his head, when Harry popped up from under the common room table.

"Wow." Harry said, wiggling his eyebrows, "You could feel the romantic tension there."

Ron gaped at him as Hermione jumped up and instinctively hide behind Ron. She soon realized her current position and moved away from him blushing profusely, and just ran into the girl's dormitory.

"You," he said disbelievingly "were under the table for that entire conversation."

"Weeeeeellllllll….. " Harry began, grinning. "I came back early from quidditch practice to study for the O.W.L.s , because ever since Cedric met me, I haven't got a moments rest." Ron looked at him. "I had to hide under the table to study." Harry grinned. "He's kind of like my personal stalker."

"Really?" Ron said "I thought he was my personal stalker."

"Well," Harry said, "He stalks everyone."

"Wait a minute. Why did you stay there when Hermione came over to study?" Ron asked slightly suspicious, and surprisingly feeling betrayed and a bit jealous.

Harry shrugged."Why not? If I moved out, Cedric would have found me anyways."

"Oh. Good." said Ron said, relieved.

Harry suddenly started grinning a sly smile

"What? Did I detect a hint of _jeeeeeeeeealousy_ Ron?" Harry said, teasingly in a singsong voice.

Ron stepped back is if offended.

"What?! No! Why would I be jealous?!" he exclaimed.

Harry's grin only widened.

"If you say so." he said, winking repeatedly.

"Although I think I hear someone in DEEENNNIAAALLL." he sang.

The annoying voice in Ron's head came back.

 _I agree with him._

Ron did not want to deal with this right now.

 _I told you to SHUT UP!_

Ron just showed Harry a very disrespectful finger and walked back to his bed to continue looking up "Hamilton".

* * *

A few hours of becoming obsessed with Hamilton later…

Ron sat in his cold seat in the dungeon classroom, staring off into space and thinking about the last few hours.

Hamilton and Hermione. His two new favorite things in the world. He sighed dreamily, tapping his fingers to the tune of My Shot on the gigantic steel cauldron by his seat.

"Will you cease that infernal tapping?" said an all-too-familiar cold drawl.

Ron looked up, shocked. He was so busy thinking he had not seen Snape appear over his cauldron.

"Oh, um, sorry, sir" _Pardon me, are you Aaron Burr, sir?_ He thought absentmindedly.

He looked around, snapped awake from his Hamilton and Hermione filled haze to see the rest of the class doing a warmup on Polyjuice Potion.

Professor Snape stood casting a dark shadow across Ron's desk he shared with Harry.

As Ron looked around, bewildered, Snape cleared his throat to get his attention.

"If you would like to pass your potions O.W.L.s, I would suggest you get back to work, Mr. Weasley." Snape said in his annoyingly dreary voice.

"Work, work, Angelicaaaaaaa!" Ron sang, instantly, clapping a hand over his mouth.

"Pardon me?" Snape said, accentuating his words with a raise of his eyebrows into his greasy long hair. "Mr. Weasely?"

Behind Snape, Harry gave Ron a sympathetic look as if he completely understood Ron's current predicament.

"Pardon me, are you Aaron Burr sir?" Ron blurted out.

Snape looked at Ron for a second as if he was a deformed toad mistakenly placed in his class. "Detention." he said sharply, "And 10 points from Gryffindor." then he turned to go back to the front of the class.

 _Snape really did think that detention was the solution to all problems, didn't he?_

He sighed, as Draco mocked Ron snapping his fingers in a "Work!" symbol, sniggering with Crabbe and Goyle, behind Snape's back.

Ron examined the list of ingredients on the board determinedly. He had 10 minutes left of class and he had to brew this potion fast.

 _Hmmmmmmm….._

Lacewing flies (stewed 21 days)

Leeches.

Powdered bicorn horn.

Knotgrass.

Fluxweed (picked at full moon)

Shredded Boomslang skin.

A bit of the person one wants to turn into (typically hair, but skin is acceptable)

 _Okay, I can do this._

He stuffed all the ingredients, excluding the hair into his caldron, and stirred, fast. Ron saw Hermione watching what he was doing across the room.

 _She's watching me…._

 _Wait!_ He thought. _Is she facepalming?_

Hermione pointedly shook her head gesturing at his solution, which was now turning dark purple, it was spouting flies and starting to glow.

She made a motion of stirring counterclockwise.

 _Wow…._ he thought. _She has nice hands…._

His subconscious facepalmed at his thoughts. _Boys._ It said sounding a lot like Ginny.

He stirred his potion clockwise, looking at Hermione, and accidentally submerged his hand in it.

He cried out in pain as he saw his hand burn, and his skin peeling back to show….

 _Feathers?_

They were blue and purple, and green, and were emerging from his skin agonizingly, breaking past his skin.

Fleur, who, was brewing her potion thoughtfully, looked over, and screamed at the sight of his hand, flinging her cauldron full of potion at him, and with a well-pronounced _thonk_ everything went dark.

 **CLIFFHANGER**

 **SO MUCH SUSPENSE**

 **XD**

 **Thanks to the peoples who favorited this story soooo much! Please continue to flollow, favorite, and review! The support is welcome!**


	4. Stay Alive

**Hello people! I bet everyone absolutely enjoyed that cliff hanger last chapter!**

 **Now, if you thought the other chapters were strange, this gets EVEN WEIRDER...**

 **Be prepared for chickens!**

When Ron woke up, he was in the Hogwarts hospital.

He must have been carried there after passing out in potions class. He felt a bit better now. The room he was in looked about the same as the last time he was in here after a mishap with Harry's godfather Sirius Black. He was alone in the room at the time.

Ron sat up trying to remember what happened.

The only problem was when he tried to sit up he saw his arms.

Well what used to be his arms.

 _What the bloody hell?!_

Ron was no longer his regular self.

He was a chicken.

An adult rooster to be exact.

Ron screamed and immediately tried to jump out of the bed.

However, with him currently being transformed into a chicken he instead yelled, "BAWK!" very loudly and fell out of the bed.

 _What is happening to me?!_

Ron tried to run around screaming for help, once again forgetting he was a chicken, and instead flapped his wings screeching and bawking loudly.

 _What was in that potion?!_

He must have been making loud bawks, since Madam Pomfrey swiftly entered the room.

"Now calm down. Everything is alright. Just a mishap with a polyjuice potion." She attempted to talk soothing words to get Ron to get back in the bed and stop screeching.

After chasing a frantic Ron around the room for 5 minutes, the nurse was losing her patient demeanor.

"My god lad just relax! Stop running and screeching like a deranged bloody pigeon!" she eventually yelled at the top of her lungs.

Ron was still in so much shock from his transformation that he ignored her and continued to screech and run.

By now Madam Pomfrey had quite enough running and lunging for a scrawn rooster.

She came to a stop by his bed with her hair sticking out every which way out of her nursing bonnet. Her using calm but strict face was contorted into a scowl with bright red cheeks.

"I warned you!" she yelled lifting her wand.

"Petrificus Totalus!" she shouted.

Immediately Ron stopped running and froze. A faintly blue mist had come out of her wand and engulfed the now frozen chicken.

 _I can't move!_

Satisfied (Hamilton reference! Sorry I couldn't help myself.) with her results. She picked him up, although since he was frozen mid run his position in her arms wasn't very comfortable.

After Ron was finally settled back in his bed, Madam Pomfrey explained to his frozen figure how he ended up as a chicken.

Apparently when a polyjuice potion isn't completely finished hair and all, the side effect is a chicken.

 _Well, I really should pay attention more often in potions class…. Nah, it's too boring._

Once his condition was explained to him and Ron was no longer frozen, he laid back in his bad trying to get some sleep. Madam Pomfrey had said that the effects would hopefully wear off soon since the potion spilled on him was only a quarter full. The class was only supposed to have the students brew enough to transform only an arm.

The only reason Ron was a complete chicken was since most of the potion got in his mouth.

 _I might as well use this time to relax without having any class or O.W.L.s homework to worry about for once,_

He was promptly interrupted as his friend Harry burst into the room followed by Ginny,Fred, George and…

 _Hermione? Why is she here?_

"Ron! Thank goodness you're alright!" she said as she rushed by his side to feel his forehead.

"Um, yeah, I'm fine." he was now able to say since the potion was starting to slowly wear off.

Luckily for him chicken's couldn't blush so no one noticed how much he would have been blushing at her reaction to his transformation.

Well no one but Harry and Ginny who seemed to be able to read all of his emotions toward Hermione impeccably.

Both were smiling at him smugly and Harry started to make Kissy faces.

If Ron was human he would have showed him a certain finger, but sadly couldn't do anything but attempt a glare.

Madam Pomfrey made room for the new comers as they surrounded Ron's bed.

"We were worried about you mate." said Fred as he sat on the bed.

"Thought you might've been mistaken for food and we'd have you for dinner." said George as he sat on the other side of the bed.

Harry and the twin Weasley boys started to laugh at the thought.

Hermione swiftly turned on them stopping their laughter with an icy glare reserved for boys only, and Pansy at times.

"Ignore them Ronald." Ron gave her a glare with his normal eyes now returning to his figure, but she readily ignored it and continued to talk. "Some of us actually care more about your well being than food." she said sending a pointed look at Harry.

Harry just shrugged his shoulders not getting the message.

Ginny had to shove him over towards the bed for him to finally catch on.

"Oh, um yeah we were, uh, very worried." he said shuffling forward to sit on the foot of the bed.

A silence fell on the friends as they sat on the bed. Hermione was softly petting Ron's feathers absentmindedly while Ron himself was having a small unnoticeable party in his head.

 _She cares! She actually cares about how I'm doing! *mental squealing*_

 _Woah, wait. What was that?_

The Ginny voice answered once again.

 _I'm not paid enough for this every day._ The voice sighed.

 _I'm going to say this slowly so that you will understand._

 _You. Like. Hermione._

 _What?! No I don't!_

 _Sure. Keep on believing that. It will only make it even more satisfying when you finally get together._ The voice said, followed by a torrent of winky emojis, and eyebrow wiggling.

 _Shut up!_

While this was going on in his head his body was changing back into its original self.

"Ron look!" said Ginny pointing to his wings.

He looked down to see the last of his feathers disappear from his arms and hands.

"Blimey that looks weird." said George as Ron's head started to reform.

His feather turned red first. Then the chicken head grew and rounded itself out. The feathers slowly fell off and the beak turned into a nose.

Eventually, he turn back into his normal ginger self.

Madam Pomfrey noticed his transformation and hurried over to check his vitals.

"Phew! I was getting a bit worried that you would— Nevermind. The good thing is that you're back to your original form."

Ron sighed in relief, but then suddenly was overcome by a coughing fit.

A few colorful feathers came out of his mouth.

"Ron! Are you alright?" Hermione said as Madam Pomfrey grabbed some medicine and instructed Ginny to fetch her brother some water.

Ron smiled weakly.

"Yeah, it's better than barfing slugs." he said.

Hermione smiled while Harry laughed remembering the time Ron's slug vomiting charm on Malfoy backfired.

Ginny returned with a glass of water that she handed over to Madam Pomfrey. Madam Pomfrey handed the glass to Ron to help his throat.

"Here you go. Take this." She turned around and grabbed a glass of a green mushy liquid.

She plucked a hair from Ron's head and placed it in the glass.

"This is some polyjuice potion that should make you feel more like yourself and stop any more coughing fits of feathers."

Ron hesitantly took the glass as he put down his now half empty glass of water.

The potion didn't look very appealing and Ron knew it didn't taste appealing either from his past experience.

 _Oh what the heck._

He chugged the potion down then gripped the bedsheets tightly as the effects took in.

Eventually he relaxed looking a bit less sickly.

"Ron? Are you feeling any better?" Hermione asked feeling his forehead.

Ron gulped at the close contact.

"Um, yeah, yeah I'm, uh, fine now." he said slowly getting up into a sitting position.

 _Stop acting like a chicken Ron!_

 _Heh, chicken._

"Ron what's so funny?" asked Ginny.

He had unconsciously started smiling at his mental pun.

"Oh it's nothing." he said waving his hand dismissively.

Madam Pomfrey came forward getting the young wizards and witches to get off the bed.

"Now that you seem to be feeling better and are back to your original form, it's back to class for you seven."

 _Uuuuuugggggghhhhhhh. I hate school._

A few sighs could be heard from the other boys while Ginny pushed them out the door.

Hermione lagged behind them.

"Come on Ronald, you've missed enough class as it is. You'll never pass the O.W.L.s if you don't study." she said helping the boy to his feet.

""Ugh, don't remind me. And please stop calling me Ronald!"

Hermione just rolled her eyes as they both entered the hallway.

"Whatever Ronald."

* * *

Ron wished he was still a chicken.

At least that meant no studying for O.W.L.s.

Just because he was a chicken for a few days didn't mean that the teachers would ease up on O.W.L. preparation.

"Why me?" he said for what felt like the tenth time that day.

Harry, who was sitting next to him, clapped his back with his face showing understanding.

"I know how you feel mate." he said sighing as Professor Flitwick assigned triple the usual amount of charms homework.

"Just kill me now." Ron sighed as Flitwick magically dumped a pile of homework the height of his head in front of him.

Eventually class ends and Ron finally gets a break before continuing the laborious task of school.

Harry is walking beside him as they stroll through the corridors.

Ron was just walking around humming Hamilton songs under his breath.

After awhile he looked around ( _Look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now. Ehem sorry.)_ and noticed that the corridor was now filled with people all walking the same way as him and Harry.

 _What's going on…_

Everyone had a bunch of books in their hand to study for the O.W.L.s. The students faces were sullen as they shuffled along. They looked like studying for the O.W.L.s was like fighting a never ending war that they were obviously losing.

Suddenly everyone started singing.

"Stay alive…"

 _What the…?_

"Stay alive….."

Then Harry started to rap.

"I have never seen the school of Hogwarts more despondent.

We have began writing our correspondents."

Harry stepped up to be in front of the parade of students.

"Parents write, 'Kids you have to study your courses!'

We shoot back, 'We have resorted to stop attending the courses.'"

Ron jogged to catch up with Harry.

"Um, what's going on?"

Harry ignored him and continued rapping.

"The professors deny our ailments, annoyance

They only assign more work, so pleas fall on a deaf audience."

"Summer break is not coming." said Dumbledore.

 _What the heck? When did he get here?!"_

"But Professor!" Harry pleaded.

Dumbledore just patted his head cheerfully.

"Harry listen. There's only one way for you to ace this."

Everyone stilled waiting for Dumbledore's advice.

"Study hard, day and night."

"That's right" Harry said as the students continued walking but now with more purpose.

"Don't get enraged, keep up the fight.

Remain relentless until your future is bright."

"Make it impossible to justify the cost of the fight." Harry said still trying to think of a way out of testing.

Dumbledore just shook his at his antics and walked away.

Harry and the other students decided to keep going with the idea of rebelling.

"Outrun!" Harry yelled.

"Outrun!" the students repeated.

"Outlast!"

"Outlast!"

"Hit 'em quick, get out fast." said one of the Weasley twins.

"Chick-a-plao!" said Cedric as he randomly popped out of nowhere.

Everyone stopped for a second and uneasily moved away from the weird Hufflepuff.

"Stay alive 'till this horror show is past." said Harry ignoring Cedric and continuing the rap.

"We're gonna fly a lot of flags half mast." he said with a grim look.

"Wait what?" asked Ron thinking he misheard his friend.

"Well...You-Know-Who has his eyes on me." Harry said smiling, although it was a little grim, at his Hamilton reference.

"Oookay then." Ron said deciding to just the issue drop.

The weasley twins must have made a trip to Hogsmeade using a secret passage since they began walking around giving out butterbeer.

"Raise a glass!" yelled out one of the twins while the other mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, "to freedom."

Suddenly Neville walked up speaking Hercules Mulligan's line once again.

"I'll go back to my plants…and study up for a chance at an apprenticeship."

 _Hmm… I wonder if he means to get one with Professor Sprout over the summer…._

"I'll ask for professors' aid to ensure my grades won't slip." said Hermione speaking Lafayette's line.

 _Wow! I didn't know she was in this theater club! Maybe I should consider joining...Just to get to know her better I mean._

"I'll stay at work with Harry.

We write essays against this slavery.

And every day's a test of our camaraderie

And bravery!" said Ginny as she linked arms with Harry.

 _Hmm….I didn't know they were close….And is Harry blushing?_

Before Ron could think over the subject any further, Harry continued rapping.

"We cut our breaks, we steal notes from classes.

We pick and choose our battles and times to use hall passes."

The students pulled out some stolen notes and hall passes to emphasize hs point.

"And ev'ry day,

'Professor entrust me to be a prefect.'"

Dumbledore came out of nowhere as Harry pleaded to become a prefect.

"And ev'r day,

'No.'

He dismisses me out of hand." Dumbledore patted his head once again then waved his hand in dismissal as he walked away.

Harry continued rapping although his face was a little grumpy.

The students all began singing stay alive again.

"Instead of me he promotes

Cedric Diggory!?"

Cedric popped up again waving to, well, no one really.

 _What?! Why?! Sometime Dumbledore does amazing things like defeating Grindelwald. Other times he does stuff like this and says the thing he most desires is socks._

"Makes him a Hufflepuff prefect?!"

Cedric struts up to the front of the mob of students.

"I'm a prefect. Wheeeeeeeee!"

Everyone just stops to look at him as he runs around in circles yelling whee, doing jazz hands.

Harry snaps out of it first.

"Yeah….He's not the choice I would have gone with."

"He s**** the bath during the Triwizard Tournaments!" everyone, except Ron and Cedric, yelled, pointing accusing fingers at the boy previously mentioned.

 _I'm so confused and weirded out. Yet I'm also intrigued._

Everyone suddenly started running in the same direction further into the castle leaving Ron behind.

"What the—Guys wait up! Where are you going?! Did I do something?! Guys!" he repeated yelled at the retreating mob of students.

He sighed shaking his head, but followed the wizards and witches nonetheless.

He ran and ran and ran.

And then he ran some more.

 _Where are they going anyway? And when did so many students get enrolled in the theater club without me knowing or anyone telling me?_

Eventually everyone, including a very confused and exhausted, Ron ran up a flight of stairs.

 _Are you kidding me? Now I have to run up flights of stairs?_

Ron sighed once again and paused for a moment to catch his breathe. Sadly he didn't get to rest very long since he lost sight of the mob of students only hearing the _thomp, thomp_ of students' feet.

Ron quickly started running again to catch up.

 _I hate my life._

* * *

Harry whisked Ron through the corridors of Hogwarts.

"Where are we going again?" asked Ron, out of breath.

"Dumbledore's Army Headquarters." said Harry, not looking back.

"Where- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" Ron was cut off as Harry veered over to make a sharp turn, still dragging him by the arm.

Harry stopped in front of a golden colored gargoyle, and whispered something into its ears that sounded suspiciously like "Whizzing Frisbees."

Ron mumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "Bloody hell."

Suddenly, a pair of doors swung open from the wall, bringing them up a staircase that brought them to the headmaster's office.

It was empty.

"Harry-" Ron began, but Harry wasn't listening. He led Ron, more carefully now, not as to disturb any of Dumbledore's fragile belongings, or more likely, fall head first into a powerful relic that would land them in more trouble than just with the headmaster.

They cautiously weaved through tables and tables, and then finally Harry stopped, in front of Fawkes.

Harry knelt down to open a trapdoor at the base of the cage, and mumbled " _Alohombra._ "

His wand glinted for a split second, and then Harry and Ron fell down the dark tunnel, falling unceremoniously onto the tile floor.

Ron squinted his eyes at the sudden light, and looked up to see a crowd of his classmates, led by Dumbledore and Harry, looking down at him.

"Nice to see you have joined us, Mr. Weasley." said Professor McGonagall.

 **Yay it's done!**

 **Please review, and follow, and favorite and stuff!**

 **Sorry (not sorry) about the chickens, PJOandHP4life couldn't help herself. After all, chickens are her favorite thing ever.**

 **Poor little Ron, what a mess he has landed himself in... Keep reading, things will get more chaotic...**


	5. You'll Be Back In My Class

**Hello readers! Thanks for the new favorites, I really appreciate it! Also, me and PJOandHP4life have been celebrating, because we reached 100 views, so, yay, thanks! Anyways, after the chicken episode, Ron here is going to have to go to Defense Against the Dark Arts... But who knew Umbridge could sing?**

He sighed wistfully as he walked down the bustling hallways of the Hogwarts school, daydreaming about great green fields, sunshine, freedom, and the Burrow that awaited him when summer came….

The O.W.L. s had loomed over the students like a dementor, causing general anxiety and fretfulness, sucking the natural good naturedness out of everyone. Students pored over their notes more, searching for something, _anything_ that might be on the test.

As if things weren't bad enough, Umbridge had ruled over the school with an iron fist. Not even allowing the students to use their wands, which didn't make any sense to Ron.

 _How are we supposed to learn magic, without doing any magic?_ He often thought.

However he didn't voice his opinion since Umbridge had a reputation of having the worst detentions. Even worse than Professor Snape, and that's saying something.

Ron sighed, looking at his schedule. He had Defense Against Dark Arts next. _Umbridge. Ugh._

He facepalmed his messy red hair into his books.

Hermione laughed softly beside him.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

Ron suddenly looked up, startled, suddenly wishing he actually brushed his hair this morning

Hermione grinned, and swept a stray strand of red hair out of his face.

"Well, I suppose I have Poetry with Filch next." she said. "Wish me luck."

She turned into a classroom directly to the right on the hallway.

Ron gaped at her, and lightly touched the lock of hair she touched, holding it in front of his eyes, as if to convince himself it were real.

 _I shall never wash that strand of hair again._

He pinched himself a few times to tell this was not a dream.

 _WAKE UP RON YOU ARE GOING THE WRONG WAY_ his subconscious yelled.

Ron looked up, startled, and turned into Defense Against the Dark Arts, and sat in a desk beside Harry, who grinned at him.

Umbridge frowned over the nearly empty class with a disturbing resemblance to an unhappy fat toad.

"Mr. Potter, I don't suppose you know where the rest of the class might be?" she said in a tone of forced politeness.

"Oh, they are in Dumbledore's office. It's theatre club." he said, smirking in a subtle way only visible to Ron.

 _Theatre club gets better by the minute._ Ron thought, looking at the expression on Professor Umbridge's face.

"Well," she said forcing what she clearly thought was a smile "I will have to go to Dumbledore's office. He certainly cannot be happy about this. Imagine!" she huffed " _This_ many students absent from my class. _With the O.W.L.s coming up_!"

She paused.

"And you two will have to come. I certainly cannot leave any students alone."

Harry and Ron internally groaned as she hed them down the corridor furiously.

Her heels clicked on the cold stone floor as she took a sharp turn up to the headmaster's office.

She looked at the griffin door (heh puns).

"Let me in!" she demanded.

The griffin didn't move. In fact it almost appeared to be smirking at her attempt to force her way through.

Her fat round face had turned a slight red as she whipped around.

"Mr. Potter," she said angrily "Tell me the password."

"I don't know, Professor." he said innocently "I don't suppose you tried the magic word?"

Ron turned to Harry confused.

"What do you mean magic word, the password is just a phrase not a spell." he whispered while Umbridge was focused on yelling at the door.

"It's a muggle thing. The magic word is please. It's just a thing parents say to their kids to tease them and teach them manners."

"Someone needed to teach Umbridge some manners." Ron said approvingly, trying his hardest to hide his smirk.

 _That's actually pretty funny. She is acting like a child during a temper tantrum._

Ron tried his hardest not to laugh.

Umbridge kicked the door in her anger, and half of her ugly frilly pink high heel broke in half from a mumbled spell from behind the door.

Harry and Ron laughed.

"Albus Dumbledore, if you don't let me in this very moment, the Minister will-"

She was cut off as the door swung open.

"Dolores," smiled Dumbledore "What a surprise. I wasn't expecting you."

Umbridge stood there in silent fury, trying to look intimidating, while struggling to stand upright with her broken heel.

"Ah," Dumbledore said, eyeing her broken shoe, "Looks like one of my protective spells backfired. My apologies."

It may have been Ron's imagination, but he could have sworn he saw Dumbledore wink at them as he turned around.

"What do I owe for the pleasure of this meeting today, Dolores?" he said calmly, leading them into his office.

"Half of my students are missing due to a proclaimed 'theatre club' that meets in your room. Clearly, the O.W.L.s are so much more important than a silly extracurricular. I believe it is necessary that—"

"They come right after they are finished! Of course! What a splendid idea!" Dumbledore finished for her.

"May I have a word with these students, _headmaster_?" she said the word with disgust.

"Why, of course, Dolores." said Dumbledore calmly.

Dolores led Harry and Ron down through the trapdoor, she tripped into the dark tunnel with a yelp, and Harry and Ron grinned and followed.

* * *

The crowd parted as Umbridge fell right into the theatre, followed by Harry and Ron. The students looked at Umbridge, and gave Ron and Harry the evil eye, as if they led her down there. Harry shrugged, and Ron shook his head holding up his hands, as if to say _It wasn't me._

"Will the students that come to Defense Against the Dark Arts please come with me to report to class _immediately_?" she said insistently.

The students looked crestfallen.

Ron had to do _something_.

"But Professor," he began innocently "Dumbledore told us that they could report to class after they are finished here."

Harry let out a breath he hadn't been aware that he was holding, and many students broke into grins, muttering.

"SILENCE!" she yelled.

"A message from the queeeennnnn…" sang Draco.

"A message from the queeeeeennnn…" mumbled Goyle sleepily.

"A message from the queeeeeennnnn…" sang Crabbe, stuffing his mouth with a package of Chocolate Frogs.

Umbridge took a step forward.

Then did something none of them expected.

She started to sing.

"You say, that the price for my respect is not a price you are willing to pay,"

"You cry, in the O.W.L. supplies you throw when you see me go by…." she sang

"Why so sad?" she said with a fake pout the would make Bellatrix Lestrange proud.

"Remember, despite our estrangement I'm your witch."

Harry stepped closer to Ron to whisper in his ear.

"She's right about the witch part. At least in the insulting muggle sense if the term."

Ron chuckled but then focused back on the pink toad, or in other words Umbridge.

"You'll be _back_ " she sang, every word punctuated with a step forward in her loud high heels into the crowd, which parted disgustedly.

"In _my class_." she said

"Not another _hall paaaaaass_ …"

Someone yelled, "What if someone needs to use the bathroom?"

They were ignored as Umbridge continued her impromptu song.

"You'll be back, no more sass," she said, looking pointedly at that student.

"Get back in my classroom faaaaaassst…"

"Fudge will rise…"

"Dumbledore will faaallll…"

"I will be the reason for it alllll…"

"And when _push_ comes to _shove_ …"

"I will send fully armed Aurors to remind you of my love…."

She began to tap dance across the floor in her heels, singing.

"Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da  
Da da dat dat da ya da!"  
"Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da  
Da da dat dat da…"

 _What the bloody hell?!_

"You say your trust is draining and you can't go ooonnnnnnnn…."

"Wow I can't believe she actually made and held that note." said Ron slightly impressed.

First Draco can sing and now Professor Umbridge can too. _It just gets stranger and stranger._

"You'll be the one complaining when I am gooooonnnneeee…."

"And no don't change the subject.

'Cause the DADA is your favorite subject."

Harry just burst out laughing, as did the rest of the crowd. "Your dada!" someone in the back yelled

"What the heck is DADA?" he said still laughing.

"It stands for Defense Against the Dark Arts Harry." Hermione explained slightly exasperated.

Umbridge had opened her mouth as if to say something but closed it as soon as Hermione talked. She was going to answer Harry but Hermione beat her to it.

Ron turned around, shocked. _Where did Hermione come from?_

 _Wow, she knows that? I didn't know that._ he thought, impressed.

His subconscious answered again.

 _Well that's because your brain has the range of a teaspoon. I can barely fit in here as it is._

Ron started blushing as he remembered Hermione saying something similar to him about his emotions.

 _Shut up._

 _Awwww you're blushing_ his subconscious said.

 _How do you even know that? You're inside my head!_ He thought angrily

He had a feeling his subconscious was smirking at him.

 _I know EVERYTHING._

He snapped out of it, and watched Umbridge continue her song.

"And you all are going to be sweet, submissive, and perfect." she said.

"Forever" her eyes took a dark glint "And ever and ever and ever and ever."

"And never." whispered Harry under his breath.

She grinned "You'll be back, like before."

"I will fight and kill Dumbledore."

 _Wait, WHAT?!_

"For your safety and your praise,

And you'll follow me till your dying days."

"You'll give respect or make me mad!"

"So don't throw away this thing we haadd…."

"Because when push, comes to shove," she started, grinning

"I will kill your friends and family…. to remind you of my love,"

She began tap dancing again on the floor in front of the horrified crowd.

"Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da  
Da da dat dat da ya da!  
Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da  
Da da dat—  
Everybody!"

Suddenly, the Inquisitorial Squad and Slytherin house joined in, singing along. Soon all of them were tap dancing too.

"Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da  
Da da dat dat da ya da!  
Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da da da da  
Dat dat da ya da!"

The dancers and Umbridge were frozen in a group pose at the end for a few seconds, clearly waiting for applause. When none came, Umbridge stood up, her face creasing into a dissatisfied expression.

"Children, you will follow me to the DADA room immediately."she said strictly.

The students frowned at her and didn't move, except for Harry, who raised his wand and yelled "EXPELLIARMUS!"

And the theatre erupted in a cloud of dueling and spells.

 **CLIFFHANGER**

 **So dramatic! Harry just HAD TO expelliarmus, because that's nearly the one spell he does excessively. XD**

 **The suspicion... You guys will just have to wait for it (the next chapter that is.) :)**


	6. Meet Me Inside

**This one is** **interesting** **...**

 **Sit tight, because things go down in this chapter!**

 **Just you wait...**

It was chaos in the theatre as spells were thrown everywhere. Dust began to rise from scuffling feet, and yells of rage echoed through the empty auditorium. It was nearly a full-out war. Umbridge was tripping around on her broken high heels, attempting and failing to ward off curses from the Weasley twins.

 _Well that escalated very quickly._ Ron thought as he ducked to avoid a

leg-locker curse.

 _Might as well join in._

Ron was attempted to yell a war cry, but suddenly a misdirected curse caused him to begin to regurgitate Blast-Ended Skrewts all over the floor.

Harry was in the middle of the chaotic battle, yelling "Expelliarmus!" in all directions, while sustaining his stag patronus, which was currently chasing Umbridge around the room. She attempted to run, but only tripped over her broken heels and tripped over students.

Ginny was stupefying people left and right. She had used a summoning spell to get her broom which gave her a speedy advantage. Her current goal was the inquisitorial squad that was running away in fear from her rage.

Seamus Finnigan was trying to defeat both Crabbe and Goyle. He attempted to douse them in water, but as common with his luck, he instead caused an explosion that blew them off their feet.

Hermione was attempting to stupefy Draco, who was throwing some nasty jinxes at her and yelling "Take that, you filthy mudblood!"

As she dueled Draco, Hermione finally used a bird-summoning charm to attack him. Draco fell to the ground whing from all the paper cuts pitifully, while Pansy Parkinson tried to sweet talk him, but just got jinxed.

"Everyone! We need to stop fighting! Let's just calm down!" said Neville.

No one heard him as the intense fighting drowned out his desperate voice.

Unfortunately, one of the Expelliarmus charms found its way to Neville, and he was being blasted with curses from all sides as the Inquisitorial Squad drew in from all sides.

"Well that's just brilliant!" he shouted as he fell to the floor from getting hit once again with a full body-bind curse.

Luna rushed in helping Neville back to his normal self using an anti-jinx spell. She handed Neville's wand back to him, and they stood back to back, trying to repel the curses being sent from all sides.

Ron watched, partly satisfied by the display, although it still wasn't pleasant barfing Blast-Ended Skrewts.

 _And I thought slugs were unpleasant._

Suddenly, in the midst of battle, Dumbledore fell through the tunnel right smack dab in the middle of the fighting.

Everyone froze.

"EXPLAIN YOURSELVES." he said using his wand to cast an amplifying charm. His voice was assertive yet furious in a way that sent shivers down every witch and wizard's spine.

"Here comes Dumbledore…" mumbled Hermione to Ron.

 _Woah! I didn't even know she was that close._

 _Come on Ron respond!_

"Um yeah," he mumbled.

When no one responded, he continued.

"WHO STARTED THIS?"

Every single person turned and looked at Harry Potter.

"Um," he said weakly "Oops."

Draco started smirking at his enemy's fate.

"Well this should be fun."

Dumbledore gestured to the chaos around him.

He then noticed Umbridge on the ground covered in scratches with a look of fear on her face.

"What is the meaning of this? Draco get Madam Pomfrey for Umbridge."

"Yes sir!" said Draco as he quickly hurried off to fetch the resident nurse.

Dumbledore walked forward to help up Umbridge.

She tried to wave him off but relented in letting herself be helped back into a standing position.

"Umbridge, you will never agree with me, but believe me, these young wizards don't speak for me." he said his voice filled with genuine concern.

"That's right!" said Umbridge, gloating, looking around at the shocked students.

"Thank you for your time," he said as Draco ran back into the room with Madam Pomfrey on his heels.

"Let's go," he said as he helped Madam pomfrey carry a whiny Umbridge to the medical ward.

Dumbledore turned back to the students as the three left the auditorium.

"HARRY POTTER,"he said.

"Sir?" he nearly squeaked.

"MEET ME INSIDE!"

 _Well looks like I will have to arrange a funeral and find a new best friend._

"Meet him inside! Meet him inside! Meet him inside, and get ready to die!" the group chanted.

Dumbledore gestured for Harry, to follow him into his office with a grave look on his face.

"Good luck mate, you'll need it." said Ron patting his friend on the shoulder as he passed him following Dumbledore. Beside Ron, Hermione gave Harry a look of concern and sympathy.

"SON," began Dumbledore."Don't call me son!" interrupted Harry, rising from his seat.

"This battle is hard enough without infighting-" he said, gesturing to the Horcrux sitting on his table.

"Umbridge wanted you _dead._ We called her out." Harry argued.

"Expelliarmus solves nothing! You just aggravate the Ministry!" Dumbledore said, a look of anger.

"You're absolutely right! I should've Expelliarmus-ed her in the mouth! That would have shut her up!"

"Son-" Dumbledore said again, instantly regretting it.

"I'm not your son!" Harry exclaimed, wildly gesturing and nearly knocking instruments off the table.

"I am not a maiden in need of defending I am grown!" he said, tugging on his long white beard as if it were proof.

Harry wasn't listening to him as he overlapped his sentences.

"Dolores Umbridge, Cornelius Fudge,

The Ministry takes your name and they rake it through the mud!"

"My name has been through a lot, I can take it!" Dumbledore exclaimed, rising up from his chair, towering over Harry.

"Well, I don't have your name, I don't have your titles, I don't have your respect, but if you-"

"No!-" interrupted Dumbledore standing up from his seat as well.

"If you gave me control of the Horcruxes, the Sword of Gryffindor, I can kill Voldemort and end this war!" Harry gestured towards the sword and dairy.

"Or you could die!"

"I am more than willing to die!"

"Your friends need you alive, son I need you alive!" Dumbledore had grabbed his shoulders by now looking him in the eye trying to convey his reasoning.

"CALL ME SON ONE MORE TIME!"Harry said angrily.

It was silent as Harry realized he crossed a major age line.

"Detention, Mr. Potter. That's an order from your headmaster!" Dumbledore said, his resolve steely calm.

"Sir…"

"Go now." finished Dumbledore pointing to the gryffin door.

The office was silent.

Harry picked up his books, and left the office turning his head from Dumbledore's view as a few tears fell.

It was silent, like the calm after a hurricane.

The clock behind him ticked softly.

Dumbledore put his head between his hands.

 _What have I done wrong?_

* * *

Ron and Hermione were running through the corridors.

"Where is that boy?" Hermione said, a frustration audible in her voice, after they had been searching for about a half hour.

"I don't know," Ron said as they slowed to a walk.

"Maybe he is still with Dumbledore," panted Ron as he struggled to jog any farther.

"No, I heard from Ginny that she saw him run out of there a while ago. She said she would follow him to make sure he's okay, but I'm still worried."

 _Hmmm... Suspicious_ said Ron's subconscious.

 _What?_ Ron asked his subconscious.

 _Nothing...nothing…_ smirked his subconscious self-righteously. _Maybe I would tell you more if you would admit your crush on Hermione._

 _Heck no! There's nothing to admit!_

 _Yeah...Suuure right back at you then._ The voice responded smugly.

While this went on in his head, Hermione, who had been walking in front of him, suddenly came to a stop.

Ron crashed right into her and they both fell to the floor, blushing profusely.

"Ow, Ron watch what you're doing!" said Hermione as she rubbed the back of her head that had been hit on impact, trying to

"Sorry, I was just, uh, lost in thought I guess." he said scratching his head.

Filch rounded the corner to see the two of them tangled and blushing on the floor past curfew.

"Well...well…" he said smugly "I certainly didn't see this one coming." he said pointing his finger between the two of them.

"It isn't like that!" Hermione exclaimed, talking way too quickly, "We were looking Harry, and then tripped you see…." her heartbeat was racing.

 _SHE WAS IN TROUBLE_

 _HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER_

 _She never gets in trouble!_

 _And it's all your fault._

 _You just can't go three seconds without screwing up your love life can you?_ said his subconscious.

"Wait, no!" said Ron, a little too fast.

"'Um, it's my fault not hers!" Ron said.

"Whatever you lovebirds say…" said Filch, smiling.

"Let's see what the headmaster has to say about this." Filch finished, looking triumphant, rounding the corner, dragging each one by the ear.

He rounded the corner, and there was Harry, standing in the middle of the corridor.

"Hello, sir," Harry said respectfully.

"YOU TOO!" said Filch, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"No, no, I was-" but Filch didn't want to hear it.

In fact he look a little too happy to find all three of them outside of their house dormitories at night.

Soon, all three of them were being dragged, Ron and Hermione by Filch, and Harry by Ms. Norris.

"Good kitty, kitty…" Filch crooned at Ms. Norris.

"And he's talking about lovebirds." Hermione mumbled, just loud enough for Ron to hear.

Ron blushed.

Filch took a sharp turn, promptly announced "WHIZZING FRISBEES" and the griffin door opened.

Ron could've sworn the griffin was smirking.

"Someone's in trouble…" it sing songed in Hermione's ear as she was dragged by.

Dumbledore sat in his office, stroking Fawkes, as the four (or five, if you count Ms. Norris) walked in.

"What a strange sight." Dumbledore said thoughtfully. "Would you like to explain, Mr. Filch?"

Filch looked as if he would like to explain very much.

"Well, I saw these two," he gestured to Ron and Hermione "all tangled up with each other in the corridor past curfew."

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows into his long white hair, and Ron could have sworn he saw a trace of a mischievous smile on his lips.

Harry leaned over and wiggled his eyebrows at Ron who was blushing profusely, along with Hermione.

"Dumbledore-" Ron began, but Hermione cut him off, somehow knowing he would make a mess of things.

"Sir, we were going through the corridor in search of our friend, Harry." Hermione said.

"A noble quest. And while you were at it, you got up to some things, I see." Dumbledore said, raising his eyebrows farther, and trying desperately not to laugh.

The two of them blushed.

"And what about Mr. Potter, headmaster?" prompted Filch.

"Oh, I just released Potter from my office. He is free to go to his common room." Dumbledore stated. "But," Dumbledore said "Detention tomorrow. It is late." Dumbledore smiled.

Harry broke into a genuine grin although somewhat dimmed due to the reminder of his continued detention. 'Thank you, sir!" he said eagerly.

Filch looked disappointed.

"Can I escort them back to the common room?" he said, grasping for one more chance to make their lives miserable.

"These are trustworthy students. They can go alone." Dumbledore stated, "But," he continued "If they don't go directly to their common room, you have my permission to hang them by their ears in the dungeon for the rest of the night." he said, pointedly to Ron and Hermione, giving Harry a look, too.

Filch grinned widely.

Harry blanched, in contrast to Ron and Hermione, who were still blushing.

"Yes, sir." said Harry, walking out, followed by the other two.

Harry waited a few seconds.

"So," he grinned "I hear you two got up to some stuff."

Ron and Hermione facepalmed.

 **WOW RON HERMOINE I SEE YOU TWO**

 **XD**

 **That was the best!**

 **That was a lot...It went from funny to depressing to happy to funny...**

 **Me and PJOandHP4life were cracking up writing this and now my dog is looking at me funny... oh, well.**

 **Can't wait to write next chapter! XD Ron and Hermione are NEVER going to hear the end of this!**


	7. Ginny

**Yay, I'm back!**

 **Okay, this is basically what happened after Meet Me Inside from Harry's perspective, and is actually a lot different from the last chapter.**

 **Be ready for some Hinny...**

Harry walked briskly out of the Headmaster's office.

As he passed fled through the griffin door he started to produce sobs he immediately tried to muffle.

If his vision wasn't blurred from crying he would have noticed the griffin giving him a pitying look.

Harry hurried down the corridor with no specific destination in mind. He just wanted to get as far away from people as he could right now. He didn't need their pitying looks or sympathy.

He considered going to the Gryffindor common room where his friends would probably be waiting for him. He just... couldn't. He wanted to be alone.

His friends already had so much on their minds without having to deal with the problems of his personal life as well. He sighed.

 _My life sucks._

Just to make things worse Peeves flew out of nowhere.

"Awwwwwww little potty snotty needs a wittle tissue does he?" said Peeves snottily.

Peeves chucked a water balloon on him.

 _Well thanks universe. I feel sooo much better now._

Harry looked up to see Peeves laughing very hard. Harry flashed him the finger. He was laughing so much he flew into the wall and crashed.

 _Well that does make me feel a little better._

Harry wiped away the water on his face along with the tears that had soaked his cheeks seconds ago. He fumbled in his bag for a tissue, which he subtly blew his nose in and Expelliarmus-ed just to watch it fly across the room. He chuckled softly.

 _Expelliarmus really does solve everything, doesn't it?_

Still, even Expelliarmus wasn't going to make Dumbledore forgive him for the fight he started yesterday, no matter how much Umbridge did deserve it. He wasn't going to get back his trust for a while, and quite frankly, he couldn't blame him.

 _I made quite a mess._

"Yes you did."

 _What the…_

Harry turned around looking for the source of the noise. He spotted a figure in the shadows watching him. He raised his wand prepared to Expelliarmus his way out of a fight.

But then, long red hair glinted by the light of her wand.

"Ginny?" he said, more of a question.

"Harry," she said softly and surprisingly her voice was tender. "You were thinking out loud," she said walking further into the light.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she took in his appearance. His eyes were red and puffy from his tears, plus his nose was slightly red.

"Harry what's wrong?"

"Um," he said, not trusting himself to say anything without turning into a mess again, "I…"

He took a deep breath.

"I sort of started a fight in the theatre." He paused. "A really big one. I was Expelliarmus-ing and everything." he said in a way that Ginny found endearingly awkward.

Ginny laughed at his admission.

"I know Harry. I was there, remember?" she said thoughtfully.

Harry sighed, although allowing himself to smile slightly at her laughter. Ginny knew just what to say to make him feel better.

 _She probably gets it from hanging out with Hermione._

"I may or may not have broken Dumbledore's trust." he said slowly, letting out a breath he had not known he was holding.

 _Funny how starting this fight breaks his trust in me after all the other stuff I've done._

She smiled softly,. The a comfortable silence fell over the two. It seemed for once she was at a loss as to what to say.

For a few seconds, she seemed to be considering something.

She finally walked up to him, and gave him a hug.

Harry was surprised at her sudden action, but after a while he allowed himself to hug her back.

In this time a few more tears fell down his face onto Ginny's robes, but if she noticed she didn't move away.

"It will be alright Harry," she said petting his hair down. "Dumbledore gets angry sometimes, but he still cares about you."

Harry tried to pulled back, shaking his head, but she only tightened her grip on his shoulders, willing him to see sense.

"But he was really angry Ginny. You should have seen his face. He was… so ashamed of me." he whispered his voice breaking at the end.

"Shh, it's alright. Umbridge deserved what she got anyway." she smiled slightly

She pulled back to look him in the face.

Her lips were pulled into a reassuring smile.

Then she made another sudden action Harry never would have believed had happened if he wasn't there.

She kissed him.

Sure it was on the cheek, but still.

For a few seconds fire rushed through his veins and his heart pounded.

 _Ohmygodohmygodohmygod._

For Harry it was a moment of her soft lips touching his face. It was something so perfect it should not have been broken, and it ended too fast. He felt flames erupt in his heart and spread throughout his body like a wildfire. He began blushing at hugging her like this and overcome with emotion, he drew Ginny in closer in the hug. He ran his hand down her soft red hair, like he had always wanted to, but never knew until this moment and she buried her face in his neck.

They broke away for a few seconds, and Harry held Ginny's face in his hands, and they were so close, their foreheads touched, and Ginny opened her mouth to tell him something and then-

Suddenly the two heard noise from down the corridor and sprang apart.

Ginny promptly whispered a frantic "Bye!" and dashed into the Room of Requirement.

Harry stood there with his hands in his pockets, trying to look casual, with a forced smile on his face. The footsteps rounded the corner, and it was none other than Ron, Hermione, and Mr. Filch, along with a mewling Ms. Norris.

"Hello, sir!" Harry said, respectfully.

Filch pointed an accusing finger.

"YOU TOO!" he exclaimed.

Harry furrowed his eyebrows.

"No, no, I was-" Harry protested but Filch didn't want to hear it.

In fact he look a little happy to find him.

Soon, all three of them were being dragged, Ron and Hermione by Filch, and Harry by Ms. Norris.

Filch took a sharp turn, promptly announced "WHIZZING FRISBEES" and the griffin door opened.

Harry could've sworn the griffin was grinning.

Dumbledore sat in his office, stroking Fawkes, as the four (or five, if you count Ms. Norris) walked in.

"What a strange sight." Dumbledore said thoughtfully. "Would you like to explain, Mr. Filch?"

Filch looked as if he would like to explain very much.

"Well, I saw these two," he gestured to Ron and Hermione "all tangled up with each other in the corridor past curfew."

 _Woah, woah, woah! Ron finally made a move! How could I have missed this? Well I was kind of preoccupied by Ginny…._

At this last thought Harry started to blush but thankfully no one seemed to notice.

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows into his long white hair, and Harry leaned over and wiggled his eyebrows at Ron who was blushing profusely, along with Hermione.

"Dumbledore-" Ron began, but Hermione cut him off, somehow knowing he would make a mess of things.

"Sir, we were going through the corridor in search of our friend, Harry." Hermione said.

 _Sure you were Hermione. Sure you were. *Mental wink*_

"A noble quest. And while you were at it, you got up to some things, I see." Dumbledore said, raising his eyebrows farther, and trying desperately not to laugh.

 _A WHOLE LOT OF THINGS, HUH!?_

Harry grinned. This just got entertaining.

 _This night just gets better and better…._

Harry found himself thinking of Ginny's face, and the way they looked at each other, and felt heat creep up his cheeks.

He tried to look around and distract himself from those thoughts.

He noticed he wasn't the only one in the room blushing.

"And what about Mr. Potter, headmaster?" prompted Filch.

Harry froze. He already got himself into enough trouble, and he really didn't need more….

After a scary beat of silence Dumbledore answered.

"Oh, I just released Potter from my office. He is free to go to his common room." Dumbledore stated. "But," Dumbledore said.

 _Crap._

"Detention tomorrow. It is late." Dumbledore smiled.

 _Phew!_

Harry broke into a genuine grin although somewhat dimmed due to the reminder of his continued detention. 'Thank you, sir!" he said eagerly.

 _I'm not in trouble! I'm not in trouble! For once in my life I'm not in trouble! Well, I still have detention but it's better than nothing!_

He did a happy dance in his mind, cheerfully throwing little celebratory Expelliarmus-es in all directions.

Filch looked disappointed.

"Can I escort them back to the common room?" he said, grasping for one more chance to make their lives miserable, like he always did.

Harry sent Filch a triumphant look he doubted registered with Filch.

"These are trustworthy students. They can go alone." Dumbledore stated, "But," he continued.

 _Dumbledore really likes buts. Hehe, buts._

He giggled a little, getting a strange look from Ron. Hermione was too busy looking at the floor and Ron interchangeably and flushing embarrassedly.

Harry's subconscious rolled its eyes at his thoughts.

 _Boys._ It sounded a lot like Hermione in fact.

"If they don't go directly to their common room, you have my permission to hang them by their ears in the dungeon for the rest of the night." he said, pointedly to Ron and Hermione, giving Harry a look, too.

 _This school is way too violent. Then again I can't be talking since I just recently started a huge battle._

Filch grinned widely.

Harry blanched, in contrast to Ron and Hermione, who were still blushing.

"Yes, sir." said Harry respectfully and soberly, although inside he was still cheering happily, and his mind was filled with party tacos and streamers, and Expelliarmus, _and Ginny..._

He quickly snapped out of it, seeing his friends expressions, with an undisguised expression of delight.

The trio walked out of the office with Filch lagging behind grumbling something about stupid headmasters these days and children getting away with stuff with not enough punishments.

Harry waited a few seconds before he turned to his friends with a mischievous look on his face.

 _Well, well, well…._

"So," he grinned "I hear you two got up to some stuff."

Ron and Hermione facepalmed.

 **That was short but sweet. Especially the Hinny!**

 **XD Harry really likes his Expelliarmus, doesn't he?**

 **He uses it SO much in the books that I just had to put that in.**

 **See everyone next chapter!**

 **-RBU**


	8. Cedric Will Never Be Satisfied

**This chapter is where all the ships truly begin, and who is behind them...**

 **Get ready for some O.W.L. studying and the Yule Ball preparations, and a whole lot of foreshadowing!**

Harry wouldn't stop teasing Ron until he fell asleep in their dormitory.

"So?" Harry wiggled his eyebrows.

"Hermione, huh?" he said.

""What?" Ron asked, walking towards his bed.

"Don't act ignorant. We both know what I'm talking about."

Ron decided he would just try and ignore Harry as he got into bed.

"I see the Ronmione ship has set sail." Harry said as he continued to pester Ron about his love life.

 _See, he sees it, Dumbledore sees it, heck even Filch sees it! Why can't you admit you have a crush?!_ His subconscious was also relentlessly teasing him.

 _Shut up!_

"Shut up." Ron said again, but now out loud, as he mumbled sleepily into his pillows.

"All," Harry paused for emphasis, " _tangled up_ , I hear."

"I tripped over her."

"Mhm." Harry said, winking, "I'll quote you on that when you ask her out to the Yule Ball next week."

Ron shot up from his bed in surprise "How did you-" he said and then cut himself off, "Um, of course not." he finished awkwardly, sinking back into his bed.

"How did I know?" Harry said, "How could I _not_ know?" he finished laughing.

Ron heard Neville trying to muffle his laughter into his pillow, and turned to look at him.

Neville duly tried to pretend he was asleep, and emitted a loud snore for effect.

Ron looked back to Harry, confused.

"Even Neville notices it." Harry said, grinning. " _Neville._ "

Ron sighed. "Bloody hell." he mumbled, turning over in his bed to fall asleep.

Harry grinned and closed his eyes.

* * *

Ron sleepily opened his eyes against the morning sunlight filtering into the room.

He rubbed his eyes, and tried to push his messy red hair out of his face, and looked up at the window. Then he had the sudden scare of someone who thought that it was a weekday, then realizes it's a weekend.

 _Saturday._

 _That means,_ he thought, counting on his fingers, _The O.W.L.s will be this Monday…._

He groaned, faceplanting in his pillow, thinking of the weekend of long studying awaiting him.

 _Ugh._

 _At least the Yule Ball will be on Friday. That will be nice._

He sighed, eying the pile of textbooks, sitting by his bed.

He looked around ( _at how lucky we are to be alive right now_ finished his Hamilton-addicted brain), and saw he was going to be the last one out of bed in the dormitory.

The rest were probably getting a head-start on studying for the O.W.L.s.

He dragged himself out of bed, changed into clothes, ran a comb through his hair, and trudged down the stairs into the common room, holding all his textbooks.

 _Well, here goes._ He thought sitting down at a table.

"Hello, Ron." Hermione said, smiling at him from her books.

Ron looked up to see that she was next to him.

"Oh, uh, hey." he said, yawning, and proceeded to open his History of Magic textbook, his worst subject, and turned to a fascinatingly dull page about the most successful goblins in history and the building of Gringotts.

Ron looked at the page with glazed eyes.

 _The founding of Gringotts occurred in 1733, after the Great Goblin War, in that fruitful age of time, where peace was found, along with inventions and all kinds of societal advancements…_

The words on the page began to blur, as Ron was sucked into darkness, falling deeper, and deeper….

"Ron?" he heard his voice called.

It barely registered in his mind.

"RONALD WEASLEY!" said the voice again.

Ron woke up with a start.

"You fell asleep!" Hermione exclaimed "With O.W.L.s tomorrow! Come on, you have got to study!"

"Yeah, control your man, Hermione!" said Dean, snickering.

Hermione gave Dean the death look, and Ron turned around to hide his blush.

Hermione turned around to face Ron.

"Okay, I have flashcards." she said "It's a muggle invention to help you remember things."

She pulled out what looked like a deck of cards, except with writing on both sides.

She picked up a card, and turned it one way. It read "The Founding of Gringotts".

Ron felt some knowledge pulling at him from part of his brain.

"1933?" he asked, unsure.

"No," she said "1733." She flipped over the card, and sure enough, it read "1733."

"You understand?" Hermione asked.

Ron nodded.

"Okay onto the next one…"

* * *

After five hours of studying, the Gryffindor common room finally decided to head down to Hogsmeade to relax.

Harry, Ron, and Neville sat together in Three Broomsticks.

"So, Ron," Harry said "Have you asked Hermione to the Yule Ball yet?"

"Not yet." he said, taking a sip of his butterbeer.

"Not _yet?_ " said Neville, smiling.

 _Not yet? At this pace it will end up being not ever._ his subconscious commented irritably.

 _Don't worry I'm working on it._ Ron mentally replied.

"Well, um, no." said Ron "Of course not." he mumbled, facing the table.

"Come on, Ron." said Harry encouragingly "We already know you like her. Go _ahead_."

Ron hesitated.

"If you ask her out now, I will tell you who I'm asking." Neville blurted out.

"You're asking someone?" said Harry, grinning.

Neville looked like he immediately regretted his decision to speak up.

"Um…" he mumbled

"Well," Ron slowly smiled "you already made a promise."

He walked slowly to the table where Luna was talking to Hermione.

 _Not too slowly…._ He thought nervously _More casually…. Don't freak out! Just look cool._ He thought, feeling very freaked-out and not at all cool.

He sat down next to Hermione, and Luna and Hermione stopped talking.

"I have a question." he said, lamely.

"Ohhh," said Luna, smiling.

She took the hint and left the table for just Hermione and Ron.

"Um, Hermione." he said, feeling heat rise to his cheeks, and subtly looking back at Neville and Harry, who were grinning wildly and giving him a thumbs-up.

 _Why did I do this?!_

"Soo… the Yule Ball is coming up." he said, awkwardly.

"AndIthoughtitwouldbeniceifyou'dbemydatetotheBall." he said, all too fast.

There was silence for an agonizing few seconds, and Ron wondered if he had said something wrong.

Then a grin went across Hermione's face, and she leapt up and hugged him, excitedly.

"Yes, I will!" she exclaimed happily, and he grinned, hugging her back.

Harry started clapping for them, and so did Neville.

"I TOLD YOU SO!" Harry said loudly.

Dean was sitting at their table to see the outcome.

"I KNEW IT!" Dean said triumphantly "TELL ME I DID NOT JUST SHIP THEM FIVE HOURS AGO!"

Ron and Hermione walked over to the table happily.

Ron looked at Neville. "You still haven't told me who you are going to ask to the Yule Ball." Ron reminded him.

Neville facepalmed, still regretting that decision to talk.

"Fine."

He looked around, then whispered into Ron's ear.

"What? I didn't understand what you said."

Harry nodded in agreement as he tried to hear the juicy gossip.

Neville sighed and said it a little louder.

"Sorry I couldn't hear that."" said Ron as he scooted closer.

Neville was getting agitated by all of their teasing.

"I said LUNA!"

Neville quickly clamped his mouth shut as everyone in the restaurant turned towards their table at his loud outburst.

Neville banged his head on the table repeatedly moaning, "Why me?"

"Did someone say my name?" said Luna, heading toward the table.

He sighed loudly drawing even more attention to his grumpy and embarrassed form.

Luna turned towards Ron and Hermione, who sat together.

Luna said "You two finally got together. I could see the nargles floating between you two for weeks."

"Ohhh, Luna, huh?" Harry said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"What?!" Neville exclaimed "You weren't supposed to hear that!"

"Neville I'm pretty sure everyone here heard that." said Ron gesturing to the people still looking at their table.

"You will tease me about it for weeks!" said Neville.

"You're right I will." replied Harry, smiling.

"I hate you guys," Neville mumbled finally looking them both in the eye after his accidental outburst.

"Now Neville, that is no way to talk to your friends." said a teasing voice.

Neville's head whipped around so fast it looked like he broke his neck.

He came face to face with a slightly smiling Luna Lovegood.

"Oh, um," he started off not exactly sure what to say. "Of course not."he finally decided to say.

 _Well this is getting interesting._

Ron was smiling smugly at his friend's predicament which was even worse than his previous one.

"Well," Luna said softly to break the silence. "See ya in Herbology tomorrow. I can't wait for the Yule Ball. All the nargles in the air…" she finished dreamily.

Neville just nodded dreamily as she walked away.

"I love her," he sighed.

Harry placed his arm around their day dreaming friend.

"So, you love her huh? I knew it all along. The Nuna ship is getting prepared to sail."

Neville shook out of his stupor to stare at his friend.

"Wait, what? Did I say that out loud?!"

"Just wait til they put all the mistletoe up on the ceiling for the Yule Ball." said Ron, grinning.

Hermione chuckled from beside him.

"You sound very excited about the idea Ronald. Are you planning something? Hmmm?"

"Wh-what?" Now Ron was the one flustered turning his blushing face towards his date.

Hermione smiled at him and raised one eyebrow "Hmmm?" she teased.

Harry couldn't hold it in any more. He burst out laughing at both of his friends' blushing faces as they were teased about the ball and their crushes.

Hermione turned to look at him as Neville and Ron started to glare in his direction.

"What are you laughing at Harry? I think we all know about a certain ginger you would like to ask to the ball. Hmmm?" Dean said.

Harry immediately stopped laughing and began sweating slightly.

His face quite plainly showed the famous embarrassed expression when put into words was….

 _Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap..._

"ME?" exclaimed Ron, looking incredibly disturbed.

Hermione laughed at his obliviousness.

Cedric jumped out from under the table.

"You're gay, too?" he said, wiggling his eyebrows, "So what about that offer on prefect's bathroom, huh?"

They all turned to look at Cedric with a disturbed look on all of their faces.

"DUDE?! When did you get here, or more importantly, what are you doing here?!"

"Stalking you," he replied "Of course."

He leaned in a but too far over the table, and sipped his butterbeer while giving everyone the grinning stalker look that said when put into words:

 _So what's going on over here huh?_

"Heh, heh." he said, looking at Hermione and Ron, "Finally. We could all see that coming for a _long_ time. Me and Harry saw that entire conversation over the laptop under the common room table." he winked, and walked off.

"You were there?!" exclaimed Harry, "I thought I escaped him!"

"Oh silly Harry," said a figure, leaning against a wall behind Harry, reading a newspaper.

The figure lowered the newspaper, showing Cedric's face.

"I'm always there." he said, vanishing into a dark alleyway.

The table was silent as they all digested this new piece of disturbing information.

"Well I'm just gonna go… I think I hear Professor Sprout calling me." Neville quickly made his excuse and fled the table.

"Yeah us too we have to choose our outfits for the ball," said Hermione getting up from the table.

"But we never discussed that," whined Ron as he pouted at Hermione.

 _I don't want to go shopping. I hate looking at dresses and don't have the money to buy anything anyway._

Hermione gave Ron the death look that quite plainly said:

 _Get up and follow my lead now or die a very painful death._

Ron gulped and slowly got up to follow Hermione.

"Nevermind! Let's go right now. Bye guys!" Ron hurried after Hermione's retreating figure.

 _That look was strangely attractive and terrifying at the same time._

Harry was now the only one left at the table with Cedric.

He turned to see Cedric sitting very closely to him with a huge smile on his face.

"Looks like we're finally alone," he said trying to wrap his arm around Harry's shoulders.

Harry nervously chuckled, his face plainly reading:

 _911!_

"Um," Harry said, seeing Ginny across the room at a table right as Luna left it. "Looks like Ginny could use some company."

Cedric pouted as Harry ran off to join Ginny.

"He will be mine. Just you wait…." he said mysteriously, grinning happily and then left the store, and went down Diagon Alley and turned into Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

* * *

 **(Ginny/Harry POV)**

"Um, hey." said Harry to Ginny.

Ginny smiled and pulled over a chair next to her.

"Hi Harry, Do you want to sit?" she asked gesturing to the empty chair.

"Um," Harry glanced nervously at the chair and then at Ginny.

"Okay sure." he said, blushing as he sat next to her.

Ginny wondered whether to bring up last night or not.

"Look, Ginny." said Harry said "About last night…"

 _Looks like I didn't have to bring it up after all._

 _WAIT WHAT IS HE GONNA SAY?_

Ginny her heart clench at the possibility of what he was going to say.

 _What if he says it was a one-time thing?_

 _Maybe he wasn't thinking straight?!_

 _What if it were all a joke?!_

 _What if it was on a dare!?_

"Well I was wondering if, well, if maybe, you could consider, uh, going to the, uh, the Yule Ball!" Harry blurted out, "Will you come with-"

Ginny cut him off with a kiss.

Harry's stomach dropped.

 _Omg, omg, omg, omg, omg! Wow that was girly, but I don't care! I'm kissing my crush!_

He was surprised for a second. His body was frozen in complete shock. He couldn't believe this was happening to him, after all this time... and then he melted into it, easily.

He put his arms gently around her waist, and she tangled his hair in her fingers, and they stayed like that for what felt like a century in a moment.

Voldemort could have destroyed the world at that moment he wouldn't have cared a tiny bit.

In the world, the only thing that mattered was Ginny.

Suddenly, self-consciously, they broke away, to see Madam Rosmerta gagging dramatically and the rest of the room cheering quite loudly.

"FINALLY! ALL MY SHIPS ARE COMING TOGETHER!" yelled Dean.

Ginny frowned at this.

"But I thought that you liked me?"

 _Wait...WHAT?! She doesn't still like him right? RIGHT?!_

Harry relaxed as Dean answered, "Nah I shipped it from the beginning I was just trying to get him jealous so that you two would get together."

 _Wait what?_ Both Harry and Ginny thought at this revelation

Suddenly, through the cheering Cedric walked up.

"Alright, alright," Dean said, facing the crowd.

"That's what I'm talking about!" he said grinning to Harry and Ginny.

"Now everyone give it up, to the professional stalker: Cedric Diggory!" he said.

Cedric walked up.

Ginny frowned at that two.

 _I thought he liked him though…. I'm so confused._

"A toast to the groom!" he said, pouring Harry a butterbeer.

At this Harry frowned.

 _I'm so confused right now. Extremely happy, but confused. And what groom? We just kissed! I didn't proposed. Wait.. DID I?!_

"You are supposed to toast now." Ginny whispered, smiling to him.

Harry looked at her a little confused but she mouthed _just go with it so we can leave_.

Harry smiled back, holding his butterbeer up, and the wizards in the room echoed "To the groom! To the groom! To the groom!"

He drank a sip of the butterbeer, which was even more delicious than usual, with a hint of something else, something he couldn't quite place.

 _Harry you idiot! Don't drink tha—_ His conscious tried to warn him but was cut off by something/

 _Too late._ A happy new female voice said in his head. However, it was right. Harry had already downed most of it.

"To the bride!" Cedric said, pouring Ginny some butterbeer.

Ginny drank hers too.

"To the bride! To the bride!" sang the crowd, drinking their butterbeer, too.

"From your staaaaaalllllkkkkeeerrrrrr!" sang Cedric.

"Diggory!" sang the crowd.

"Diggory!" sang the crowd again.

"Who is always by your siiideeeeeeee…." sang Cedric winking at Harry.

 _Well, he has one thing right. He is ALWAYS watching. It's kind of sweet actually….Wait, WHAT?!_

"By your side." the crowd repeated.

"To your union!" Cedric continued his toast.

"To your union!" sang some of the crowd while the DA members sang, "To killing voldemort!"

"And the hope that you survive!"

"You survive…"

"You surviiiiivvveeeeee…"

"May you always….. be satisfied…." sang Cedric with a dangerous glint in his eyes as he pulled out a time turner.

"Rewind…." sang the crowd.

 _Wait what's going on here?_

Everyone was going backwards around Cedric as he span his time turner.

"Helpless, sky's, sky's  
Drownin' in  
Drownin', rewind  
I remember that time, I just might (rewind)  
I remember that time, I just might (rewind)  
I remember that time, I remember that—" sang a voice no one could place.

 **(Switch to Cedric POV)**

The time stopped at a scene with past Harry and Cedric talking alone on a bridge.

Future Cedric started to rap.

"I remember that time I might just regret that time for the rest of my days.

I remember those Hogwarts girls trippin' over themselves to win my praise…"

The scene showed past Cedric running away from a group of frenzied Hufflepuff girls.

"I remember that dreamlike foggy day, like a dream you can't quite place."

And then Harry turned the corner walking down the Hogwarts corridor, dropping his books.

"But Harry Potter, I will never forget the first time I saw your face." The past Cedric seemed frozen as he watched the chosen one pick up his books from across the hall.

"I have never been the same. Your mother's big green eyes in your father's great face,

And when you said, "Hi," I forgot my own name."

Past Cedric walked up to Harry blushing like crazy as he tried to form a sentence.

"You set my heart aflame, every part aflame, it's not a quidditch gaaammme."

Future Cedric sighed as he watched the scene unfold once more before his eyes.

Harry finally noticed past Cedric flustered form in front of him and smiled politely.

Past and future Cedric only stared at him with a strange creepy hunger in his eyes.

After a few seconds the smile fell off Harry's face to be replaced with a nervous look.

"You seem like a stalker who has never been satisfied."

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean, you forget yourself." past Cedric said, looking offended at his remark.

"You're like me." said Harry, and after some consideration, he began smiling.

"I'm never satisfied." he said in explanation.

 _OMG! I've finally found someone who gets me!_ past Cedric thought.

"My name is Cedric Diggory." he said.

"Harry Potter." Harry Potter said.

"I hear the prefect's bathroom is a nice place to take a bath." past Cedric blurted out.

 _Wait why did I say that? Oh well, I'll roll with it._ "If you know what I mean." he winked.

Harry's smile fell and he now seemed incredibly nervous.

"Um, unimportant, I'm not really gay, although you seem like it… um, nevermind, bye!" he said, running off to his next class.

Past Cedric seemed unfazed while future Cedric was looking over the scene, smiling. Then past Cedric began rapping.

"So so so-

This is what it feels like to match thoughts with a someone as crazy as me!" he squealed excitedly.

"What could be the catch? It's the feeling of butterbeer, quidditch, and flight!" he said happily.

"It's Dumbledore using his Deluminator, you see it right?" Cedric started running around asking people this as they quickly nodded their heads and ran.

Cedric didn't seem to notice and put his hands to his heart.

"The conversation lasted 20 seconds maybe 30 seconds!" he said, counting on his fingers excitedly.

"Everything we said was in total agreement!" he exclaimed.

 _No it wasn't._ His subconscious wisely replied.

 _SHUT UP!_

 _Okay, okay geez!_

 _I WILL THROW YOU BACK IN THE CAGE IF YOU EVER TALK AGAIN!_

 _*Silence*_

"It felt like a dream, maybe enhanced. I made an advance like I was entranced!"

"He seems a bit shy, but I will give him a chance, I asked about the prefect's bathroom, did you see his answer? He got all flustered, he looked askance! He's so perfect, it's love at first glance!" Cedric looked completely giddy, overwhelmed with falling in love.

"Handsome whether he knows it!" past Cedric sighed dreamily remembering his face.

"Fuzz on his chin, and he can't even grow it!" He giggled.

Past cedric began twirling and ran after Harry down the hall hoping to see him again.

"I want to take him to solve the golden egg, then I turn and see Ginny's face, and she is—" he cut off looking at the enamored Ginny, standing in the hallway. Future Cedric sighed deeply.

 _God I hate this part…._

Past Cedric's face drained of color as he looked at her. She was gazing lovingly at his man who was….

 _Is he glancing back at her the same WAY?!_

"Helpless…" she sang dreamily as she gazed at Harry.

"And I knooooow she is…"

"Helllpleeessssss…." she sang, smiling.

"And her eyyyyyes are just…" past Cedric's voice started breaking as he observed the scene from the shadows.

"Heeelpppleeeessss…." Ginny sang once again.

"And I realize three important things at the exact same tiiiime."

Dean caught up with Harry, and grabbed his wrist, and began to drag him somewhere.

"Where are you taking me?" asked Harry, confused.

"I," said Dean between panting from having to carry his heavy books "am" -gasp- "about" -gasp- "to change your life." he said.

Both Cedrics watched the scene pause, feeling depressed.

Past Cedric and future Cedric rapped the rest together.

"Number 1!" voices sang out of nowhere.

I'm a guy in a world where all types of powerful magic exists.

My father is mad that I haven't won against the chosen one.

So I'm one who has to win this one. Because I'm the oldest, and the prettiest, and the gossip in Hogwarts is insidious. And Harry Potter is more famous."

Future Cedric walked forward to touch frozen Harry's cheek.

"Ha! That doesn't make him any less fabulous."

The scene unfroze and continued from where it left off.

"Ginny Weasley. It's a pleasure to meet you." she said with a slight blush.

Harry looked between her and Ron in the background confused.

"Weasley?" he asked Dean.

"Ron's sister." Dean confirmed.

The scene frozen once again as both Cedric started to rap again.

"Number 2!" voices sang out of nowhere once again.

"I'm after him because he's the chosen one.

That would elevate my status I'd

Have to be naïve to set that aside maybe that is why

Dean introduced him to Ginny now that's his bride."

 _They haven't even gone on a date yet!_ His subconscious said reasonably.

 _THAT'S IT IN THE CAGE!_

 _*shoves subconscious into cage then throws cage off of cliff*_

 _Now where was I… Oh right!_

"Nice going, Diggory, he was right you will never be satisfied."

The scene unfroze again as Ginny and Harry shook hands.

"Thank you for your service to the Gryffindor quidditch team." said Ginny shyly as Harry took her hand.

"If it takes risking my life every quidditch game for us to meet, it will have been worth it." Harry replied smoothly holding her hand for a second more than necessary.

Dean smiled smugly at his success.

"I'll leave you to it." he said wiggling his eyebrows. He backed away slowly giving Harry a thumbs up.

 _Bring my ship to life._ he mouthed as he walked away winking.

Harry lifted an eyebrow at his strange behavior, but then shrugged and turned his focus back on Ginny.

Then the scene froze as they fell into an easy conversation about quidditch.

"Number 3!' The voices shouted once more.

Past Cedric began crying in the corner as he watched his crush from afar. He kept his voice steady enough to sing with future Cedric.

"I know Harry like I know my own mind! You will never find anyone more trust or as kind!"

Future Cedric walked towards Harry looking into his eyes.

"If I tell him that I love him he'd run away screaming I'm out of my mind. He'd can't be mine…."

Future Cedric thought back to how he ran over to Ginny's table as past Cedric remembered him running away when they were in talking in the corridor earlier.

"I'd say 'I'm fine'... but I'd be lying!"

Past Cedric cried and ran away as future Cedric stayed stuck in his place unable to move away.

All was silent for a moment as Cedric stared heartbroken at Harry.

Then he began to sing silently.

"But when I fantasize at night it's Harry Potter's eyes ( _or his mother's but that's just weird_ )

As I romanticize what might have been if I hadn't come off so creepy….

At least Ginny Weasley's his wife ( _still not married...SHUT UP!_ )

At least I keep his ( _or his mother's_ ) eyes in my life...

The time turner was running out of time so future Cedric used his stalker powers to somehow end up back in the three broomsticks in time.

Everyone around him was smiling about the Hinny ship finally setting sail.

They were silent as they expected him to continue the toast.

Cedric stood lost in thought with a few tears falling down his face…

 _Come on pull it together. Everything will work out for me in the end._

Cedric summoned a smile back onto his face and continued his toast.

"To the GROOM!" he sang.

"To the groom! To the groom! To the groom!" sang the crowd and Ginny jokingly.

"To the BRIDE!" Cedric sang gritting his teeth on the word bride.

"To the bride! To the bride! To the bride!" sang the crowd and Harry staring lovingly into Ginny's eyes. ( _Yeah that's right I noticed!_ )

"From your staaaalkeeeer!" Cedric sang proudly.

"Diggory! Diggory!" sang everyone.

"Who is allllwaaaays by your siiiiide!" sang Cedric as he squeezed in between Ginny and Harry staring into Harry's eyes.

"To your UNIOOOON!" sang Cedric with a surprisingly good voice.

"To your union!" "To killing Voldemort!"

"And the hope that you PROVIIIIDE!" sang Cedric.

"May you ALWAAAAAAAAAYS," Cedric held the note for a while crying a bit more as everyone started staring at him.

"Uh dude are you alright?" Harry asked trying to get out of his grasp.

"BE SATISFIED!" he sang ignoring Harry for once.

The crowd cheered as the toast came to an end.

The young witches and wizards yelled cheers clanging glasses of butterbeer together.

Cedric finally let go of the Hinny as he walked away from the celebrations.

He finished his song as he watched from afar.

"And I knoooow," he sang as the crowd of people surrounding Hinny were stilling chanting "Be satisfied".

"She'll be happy as his bride." he sang bitterly looking at Ginny with barely disguised disgust.

"And I knooooow…."

Cedric paused looking at Harry as he began smiling once again remembering his plan.

"He will never be satisfied. I will never be satisfied…."

 _Well hopefully if my plan works, that will all change very soon._

 _They still aren't married._ Said his subconscious from the bottom of the cliff.

 _I will KILL YOU!_

 _But you can't do th—_

 _JUST SHUT UP!_

 **What could Cedric possibly be up to?**

 **There are a little clues in this chapter, if only you know where to look.**

 **In the meanwhile, you will just need to see what happens next...**

 **-RBU**

 **(Please follow, favorite, and review! It helps with keeping this going, and it would be nice to have some feedback.)**


	9. Quidditch Practice

**Sorry about updating late guys, its just that life has been busy, and me and PJOandHP4life wrote this one awhile back, and I never got around to posting it. XD I'm terrible. Oh well.**

(More Harry POV YAY)

 _Gah! I hate sunlight…._

Harry groggily turned over in his bed to get a faceful of sunlight.

 _AHHHH! I'm blind!_

Harry made a grumpy attempt to lift his arms to block the sunlight. The sunlight still fell onto his face through the cracks. He tried to sleep through the annoying light shining on his face.

 _Ugh...stupid sun. You've won this battle but I'll beat you one day!_

Harry turned over and flung the once comfy yet now constricting bedsheets off of his tired form.

He tried to roll up into a sitting position with the grace of a lazy person being forced out of bed, and just like a lazy person being forced out of bed he rolled off the edge and fell instead.

 _Owww….Ugh why me?_

Harry groaned in agony, but he made on attempt to try and get up from his undignified position.

He squirmed around and managed to turn around and lay on his back entrapped in a cocoon of sheets.

 _Great now I'm trapped. Why does the world hate me today?_

Harry squirmed some more to try and get out of the sheets, but to no avail.

"Ughhhhhh… Ron? Can you help me get out of this?"

Silence.

"Ron?"

Still no response.

The room was completely silent as Harry waited for a response. Actually he didn't here any signs of anyone being in the room but him. There were no snores, shuffling of feet, ruffling of clothes being out on or taken off, nothing.

"Ughhh, you've got to be kidding me," Harry mumbled to himself as he tried to move and see more of the dormitory. Seeing no one else he tried another approach.

"Is anyone there?"

He was answered by the same silence as before.

 _Well it seems that I'm the last one to wake up. I guess I will have to get myself out of this myself._

After a few minutes of squirming around, grunting and cursing, and just plain giving up a few times, Harry finally got out of the cocoon of sheets and now was dressed in his casual muggle clothing.

 _Now to officially start my day. Hopefully it will be better than my morning._

Harry walked down into the common room to see it completely deserted.

 _Huh, everyone must be out studying for O.W.L.s at the library. Wait….I have quidditch practice today! Crap! I need to hurry!_

Harry immediately flew back up to his room for his firebolt broomstick and his other Quidditch sportswear.

 _If I'm quick, I should get there on time._

Harry ran as fast as he could through the corridors. Then he remembered that he had a very fast broomstick in his hands and he mounted it.

He sped off through the corridors into the courtyard.

He flew past students, mostly slytherin with a few hufflepuff in their midst, that decided to ( _Take a break!)_ and sunbathe. They quickly dove for cover as he sped by.

"SORRY!" he yelled over his shoulder as he knocked over Professor Flitwick.

 _I need to get up higher. Don't want to knock over any other people._

Harry willed his broom to fly higher and soared above the courtyard.

 _Yeah! I love flying!_

The air flew past his face pushing his hair back, automatically straightening the long, black, messy locks.

His green eyes teared up a bit from his speed causing the cold air to rush past his face, yet still shone bright with partially contained excitement.

He was at ease with the world whenever he got to fly. It made him feel more connected to his father and help him feel happy when he was stressed.

Speaking of being stressed and connections to James Potter….

Harry had become so absorbed with the wonderful feeling he got when flying that he almost flew past the Quidditch stadium.

 _Crap! I need to slow down!_

He stopped his broom from flying past just in time then went into a dive toward the field.

The air flew past his face even faster than before as he quickly sped straight towards the ground.

 _WOOHOO!_

He stayed in the dive the finally pulled up when he was about a meter above the ground.

Thankfully he had mastered this dive by now due to many intense games of quidditch and being late to practice.

His broom pulled up in time to glide a foot above ground as jumped off in the middle of the field.

 _Ah, that never gets old._

"Ay mate! About time you got here Harry. Wood just finished roll call and is NOT happy."

Harry turned around to see Fred walking up to him with George following behind him. They were both already in their uniform along with the rest of the team, except for Harry.

"Yeah and he would have gone ballistic if you had arrived here even a minute later. You're the best seeker we got." said George as he walked up and put his elbow on his twins' shoulder.

Fred nodded along to his brother's statement.

"Not only that, but you're the only seeker we got. If you didn't show up—"

"We wouldn't have been able to fully practice—" George continued.

"Then he would go on, and on about how that would affect our performance during a real game—" said Fred continuing for his brother.

"Or even worse. You could have been late to an actual game instead of practice—" said George moving to put his arm around Harry.

"Then we would have been disqualified—" said Fred copying his brother's action.

"Then Wood would, heh Wood would, **(The puns am I right?)** he would give a huge speech on proper team participation—" said George.

"And we would have been bored to death." finished them both speaking as one.

… _._

 _How do they do that so impeccably?!_

Harry just stared at the brothers, well more like looked back and forth.

"Um—"

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!"

Harry almost jumped two feet in the air as he heard his name being yelled in a clearly angry voice.

Fred and George simultaneously grimaced as they turned to look at the cause of Harry's impending doom.

"Good luck mate." said Fred walking off to join the other teammates.

"You're gonna need it." George added walking away to join his brother.

Harry slowly turned around to face the angry creature that got the honor of finishing him off before the Dark Lord himself.

The Gryffindor quidditch captain Oliver Wood.

Harry had never seen a more terrifying sight, and that's saying a lot considering his school experiences and the fact that he's seen Dudley naked. Granted he was only three, but it was a still scaring experience.

 _God what I would give to be in that position inste_ — _Nope nevermind. Even being beaten by wood isn't enough to make me relive that._

Harry shivered from the thought, and from Wood's icy stare.

The scary quidditch stomped towards his slightly trembling form.

Wood only stopped when he was up in Harry's space so that they could barely see anything but each others' faces.

Then the rage ranting began.

"HARRY DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I HAD TO WAIT FOR YOU?! WE COULD HAVE LEARNED AT LEAST 5 NEW TEAM PLAYS BY NOW!" he yelled making wild hand gestures.

"WE ONLY HAVE 1 HOUR TO PRACTICE EVERY WEEKEND! 1 HOUR!" Wood emphasized his point by thrusting one finger in Harry's face.

"AND WE CAN'T EVEN PRACTICE ON WEEKDAYS ANYMORE DUE TO THE O.W.L.s! Which I personally think is less important since this is Quidditch championships, but I digress."

By now quite a crowd was gathering. Most of the other team members were standing off to the side giving Harry sympathetic looks. Well, excluding Fred and George who were imitating Wood's ranting and getting some muffled chuckles from bystanders that haven't had the pleasure to experience Wood's ranting.

"BACK TO THE POINT! YOU KNOW WE HAVE A GAME COMING UP AND WE _NEED_ TO WIN! IT'S AGAINST SLYTHERIN FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! WE _CANNOT_ LOSE TO SLYTHERIN! DO YOU HEAR ME!?"

"Uh, yes sir—"

"DID I SAY I WAS FINISHED?!"

"Uh, no sir—"  
"SHUT UP I'M TRYING TO TALK! DON'T YOU KNOW IT'S RUDE TO INTERRUPT! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!"

….

Harry stayed silent as he waited for Wood to continue his rant.

Wood stopped to stare at Harry as if he was expecting something.

"I ASKED YOU A QUESTION! WOULD YOU GIVE ME SOME SORT OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT?!"

"Uh, sorry! I mean—"

"WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU?! I'M TRYING TO TALK HERE! DON'T INTERRUPT!"

 _What the heck? You just said_ —

 _I told you to shut up!_

 _Huh?! You can hear my thoughts?_

 _Yes! Now listen I'm trying to yell at you!_

 _Um okay…._

"Ehem. Back to the point before you rudely interrupted me." Wood said sending a glare to anyone near who would even think of interrupting.

"Um, Wood? He was only a minute late."

Wood twirled around so fast a swish sound could be heard.

He was face to face with Angelina Johnson.

"Angelina! I'm trying to scold Harry about teammate dependency!"

Angelina just pointed to the huge clock tower in the courtyard.

"Well your 'teammate dependency scolding' has taken up 15 more minutes of practice."

Wood sputtered at her accusation.

"What?! I haven't been talking for more than 5 minutes and I'm not even half way through my speech!"

As if to prove her point correct, the clock tower chimed a quarter past the hour.

Wood turned to the tower and saw that she was indeed correct about him wasting time.

"Well, uh, get to practice then! Why are you people just standing around?! Start practicing our new plays!"

"Um Wood?" Fred mumbled stopping his imitation performance.

"Yes Weasley? What is it?"

"Well, you haven't told us what new plays we are going to practice."

….

"Just, uh, form two groups representing different teams. Then fly around tossing the quaffle and defending your post while I write them up!"

….

"You haven't finished the new team plays yet?"

….

"I said start flying!"

The team was quiet as they stared at their slightly frantic and blushing coach.

"Sure whatever you say coach." said George saluting Wood as he mounted his broom with his beater's bat in hand.

The team slowly shook off their confusion and mounted their broom to start practice.

* * *

After learning the new plays Wood called off practice when it was about 2 minutes until lunch.

"Alright everyone practice is over! If you can please find time to practice before next Sunday, that would be great!."

Wood turned to face Harry with an extra fake polite smile painted on.

"Let's make sure to all be on time for now on. Right Harry?"

Harry was quick to nod his head in agreement.

"Yeah, uh, of course Wood."

Wood dropped the fake smile for a real one.

"Well I have to go to the library. Studying for the O.W.L.s is killing me." Wood mumbled walking to the courtyard.

"Now that's something we can all agree on." said Angelina following Wood.

Harry picked up his firebolt and went to change out of his quidditch gear.

* * *

"Hey Harry!"

Harry was walking out of the quidditch guys locker room wearing casual Gryffindor house uniform attire.

He turned around to see who was calling him and came face to face with…

"Uh, hey I guess. What's up Cedric?"

Cedric smiled as he walked over to the chosen one.

"Well I'm here to start quidditch practice."

Harry looked down surprised to just notice the Hufflepuff uniform and broomstick.

 _Hmm…. looks like his looks distracted you huh?_

The odd female voice from The Three Broomsticks was back in his head.

 _What? Why would that distract me. Although he does look good today_ —

 _Wait WHAT?! I like Ginny not him! He's a creepy stalker and nothing more._

 _Sure you may think that….for now._ The female voice responded to his thoughts with an amused tone as though she was planning something...

 _Where did you come from?_

 _Well let's just say I attac_ — _I mean 'visit' people I like, and this time I'm staying here for awhile._

 _Wait did you say attac_ —

 _Nope! Now you will forget you ever heard me…._

 _What do you mea_ —

 _Huh? What was I thinking about again? Hmmm… Oh well._

 _My brain must be dehydrated from practice. I need to refuel._

"Um, Harry are you still with me?"

Harry blinked to see Cedric had moved closer to him and was currently waving a hand in front of his face.

 _Huh? I must have spaced out thinking about….Whatever I was thinking about earlier._

A crowd of some Hufflepuff and Gryffindor quidditch players had gathered to see what was going on.

"HARRY!"

Harry blinked and jumped a little from Cedric's random yell of his name.

"Oh! Um, sorry. I just spaced out."

Cedric rolled his eyes with a playful smirk forming on his face.

 _Wow….So pretty….Wait, WHAT?!_

"Well obviously. WHat were you thinking about?" Cedric asked stopping his train of thought. "Was my appearance that distracting?"

He asked this with a slightly nervous as well as hopeful look on his face.

Although Harry was looking other places. ( **Nowhere R rated, don't worry.)**

 _Wow that's, uh, a pretty tight shirt….Doesn't really leave much to the imagination…_

 _Not that I'm imagining anything!_

"Uh…"

 _Yes,yes, totally yes._

"No not at all."

 _Lies…._

"I was just thinking about…"

 _What should I say?! I don't want him to think I'm weird...Wait, why do I care? Besides, he's way more creepy so he must have low standards._

Cedric was getting tired of waiting for Harry to get out of his head.

"You were thinking about what?"

 _Oh right! Um….Oh! Eating! I was thinking about lunch._

"I was thinking about food." Harry blurted out nervously.

 _Crap! Now he'll think I'm a weird stereotypical dumb muggle boy! Or worse! That I'm fat and unattractive!_

 _Wait a second...That's riddikulus._ **(Sorry I couldn't help it.)** _I've never been called fat in my life! Heck if anything I'm a little too thin. Maybe I should really consider that lunch._

"—but we don't have to if you don't want to wait. I won't force you to eat with me."

 _Crap! He was talking and I was ignoring him!_

"What?" Harry asked awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

Cedric just chuckled, although with a barely visible nervousness, and repeated what he said.

"Would you mind if I came along? Of course it would be after practice, but we don't have to if you don't want to—"

"Of course!"

 _Why did I sound so eager? He's my creepy stalker. Not a friend. Although I guess I wouldn't mind friendship or maybe something m_ — _Wait no. Don't finish that thought._

"Cool! I'll see you later in the Great Hall!

"Uh, cool."

 _Oh no. What did I just agree to do? I'm already regretting this._

Cedric's face morphed into a huge, bright smile as he turned to walk towards his team on the Quidditch field.

Harry stared at his retreating figure for a minute before heading back into Hogwarts.

 _Or maybe not._

 ** _AAAAAAAANNNDDDD Here come the angry reviews. Oh well. If you are angry about this chapter, save that review for next chapter, because things will get worse..._**

 ** _Just you wait..._**

 ** _:)_**

 ** _-RBU_**


	10. Trouble In The Air

**Okay, to all people who saw the previous uploading of the chapter, sorry about the glitch. Somehow it copy and pasted html in my Doc Manager and I still dunno why, XD! Anyways, things get really complicated in this chapter, read on...**

 **(Still Harry POV)**

 _What the heck is wrong with me?!_

Ever since he agreed to eat with Cedric that thought had been running through his mind. He still didn't have an answer.

 _You must be sooo excited! I know I am!_

That weird female voice was back. She kept bothering Harry about his "first date" with Cedric in about 2 minutes.

He was walking down a corridor to the Great Hall at the moment. He went back to his dormitory to change into nicer clothes ( _I was still sweaty shut up!_ ) after leaving the quidditch field.

 _Will you just leave me alone! Why would I be excited?! He's creepy, stalkerish, handsome, nice, athletic…._

 _Wait NO!_

 _So you are excited!_

 _No I'm not! Shut up! I like Ginny anyway!_

 _Someone is in deniiiiaaaal!_

"I said SHUT UP!"

Everyone in the Great Hall turned to look at Harry at his random outburst.

Harry blushed bright red at seeing everyone looking at him, and tried to discreetly sit down at the Hufflepuff table that Cedric gestured to, grinning weirdly.

Thinking of Cedric's grin, Harry's heart felt as if it were shoved backwards up his throat.

Cedric calmly sat down beside Harry, smiling all the while.

Harry felt as if his heart fell out of his throat, bounced around a bit, and skipped a few beats.

And then Cedric just sat there, staring at Harry with a strange grin on his face, while Harry searched for something to say.

 _Uhhhh…._

"So, um." he began awkwardly.

"SILENCE!" Dumbledore's voice echoed across the dining hall, and all conversations stopped.

"I have a very important announcement for you today, as tomorrow, as you all know, is O.W.L.s day."

He paused briefly as all the students in the cafeteria groaned.

"I encourage all students to study hard and long today, which is why we are releasing all students to common rooms to study in whichever common room they like, as long as studying is done, and you still focus on your work. Understand?"

The cafeteria promptly burst into talk and motion as students excitedly formed study groups.

 _What? We can actually study with our friends? Cool!_

Dumbledore sighed. "I shall take that as a yes." he mumbled, walking off the podium.

Harry turned to Cedric quickly, but Cedric spoke first.

"Would you like to come to the Hufflepuff common room with me?" he asked.

Harry grinned. That was what he was hoping for.

 _Wait what?!_

 _Shh… Just go with it!_

"Sure." he said.

Cedric broke into a wide smile, and Harry sighed. This day was going to be perfect.

* * *

One lunchtime later…

Harry and Cedric snuck off to the Hufflepuff common room, giggling, as they hid snacks they brought from the kitchen under their sweatshirts.

 _This is so exciting!_

Cedric made a weird face, looking down the corridor to see if the coast was clear.

Harry tried to muffle a laugh with his sweatshirt, and a bag of Chocolate frogs dropped and made a _smack_ noise against the hard floor.

Cedric turned around and grinned, and Harry felt his cheeks go red, although he told himself it was from embarrassment.

Cedric smiled, and blushed a little himself, before turning around to go look down the corridor again, and put his finger over his lips, silently shushing him before they could get caught.

Harry smiled softly, and tiptoed after Cedric down the corridor until they turned into the Hufflepuff dormitory door, which was a soft blue.

A little unicorn moved across the painting on the door, and turned and looked and Harry and Cedric, and smiled.

The door eased open, and Harry followed Cedric in.

* * *

Cedric and Harry had retired to his dormitory after studying for about an hour.

They were currently laying on his bed talking about the Triwizard Tournament.

"So... have you finished preparing for the second challenge?"

Harry asked trying to keep the conversation flowing.

Cedric stiffened, but then relaxed.

 _Huh? Weird…_

"Yeah actually, I might have found a way to understand the egg."

Harry was surprised. That egg was hard to crack (no pun intended). He had just tossed it somewhere in his room and had ignored it for the past week, much to the disapproval of Hermione.

"Really? How?"

Cedric suddenly seemed a bit nervous.

His eyes were looking everywhere but at Harry and his hands were fidgeting.

He opened and closed his mouth repeatedly as if he wanted to ask Harry something but couldn't word it properly.

Eventually, Cedric sighed and turned to face Harry with a slightly anxious look on his face.

"Uh Harry?"

"Yes Cedric?"

Cedric seemed to be slowly losing his courage to speak as he started avoiding Harry's eyes once more. However, he pushed through and continued speaking.

"Do you….uh, remember when we first properly met?"

Cedric glanced nervously back at Harry's eyes while waiting for an answer.

Harry frowned as he tried to remember their first meeting. Flashes of awkward smiling and talking went through his mind.

"Uh yes, I do."

Cedric looked a little relieved at this answer, but still avoided full eye contact.

He gulped audibly and continued.

"Well, uh, do you remember the thing I mentioned about the, um, prefect bathroom?"

At first nothing came to mind, then Harry was put in a small flashback.

 _Flashback:_

" _My name is Cedric Diggory." said the gorgeous boy in front of him._

" _Harry Potter," he responded smiling._

 _Suddenly Cedric started talking again, but his words seemed rushed._

" _I hear the prefect's bathroom is a nice place to take a bath."_

 _Harry smile faltered at this random statement._

 _Cedric too seemed confused at his words, but quickly hide his feelings by trying to flirt._

" _If you know what I mean." he said winking._

 _End of flashback._

"Harry?"

Harry shook his head as if to gather his thoughts.

He turned to face Cedric and saw that the boy, more if man really, had been waving his hand in front of his face.

 _Odd. I must have spaced out during the flashback._

"Oh, uh, sorry I just kind of spaced out?"

He said it more like a question, but Cedric only raised an eyebrow and repeated what he must have said while Harry was lost in his memories.

"Well while you were lost in thought I had asked if you would like me to show you."

Harry frowned, confused.

"Uh, show me what?"

"What you discovered about the egg. It only seems fair since you warned me about the dragons."

Harry was shocked.

 _He would sacrifice the chance to finally win something for Hufflepuff for me? He would rather be sure I'm safe?_

 _Awwwwww!_

That female voice was actually saying something Harry could agree with for once.

While this evaluation was going on in his head Cedric was becoming more and more nervous.

"You don't have to you know. I won't force you into anything!" he rushed to say internally scolding himself for acting so brash.

"No, no, it's alright. I would actually be really grateful if you could actually."

Cedric peeked up at this answer and smiled widely.

"Great! Do you want to go right now?" Cedric said rushing to get off the bed and grab his egg.

Now Harry was confused again.

"Go where?"

Cedric turned back to see Harry was still on his bed.

"To the prefect's bathroom of course!"

* * *

 **(Bet you didn't expect this! Moaning Myrtle POV)**

Moaning Myrtle was just drifting through the pipes in the girls bathroom when she heard some noises. **(Not those kind of noises!)**

"Hmm...I wonder who's out of their common room at this late time in the evening. Most students should be studying…"

Curious she floated over to the direction the noise seemed to be coming from.

She came face to face with the pipes for the Hufflepuff prefects bathroom.

"Well, well, well...This should be interesting."

Myrtle continued down the pipes until she ended up falling into sudsy bath water.

 _I wonder who is taking a bath at this hour...Maybe Cedric is back to ponder about the golden egg._

Her suspicions were confirmed as she saw Cedric walk into the room.

However, as soon as these were confirmed new suspicions arose.

 _Why it's Harry Potter! What is he doing here…?_

Myrtle floated over to the two boys to listen in on their conversation.

* * *

Harry was both excited and creeped out. The only feeling he was certain of was extreme confusion.

 _What am I doing? I thought I didn't even like Cedric now I'm_ _allowing him to lead me to the bathroom alone!_

 _Yeah but you trust him! He would never mislead you! Plus it's only for the next challenge._

The female voice in his head interrupted his doubtful thoughts.

 _Well….I guess you're right…_

 _Then stop worrying and pay attention!_

"—so are you ready?"

"Um what?" Harry asked not exactly sure what Cedric said.

He shook his head and looked around. ( _Look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now!_ )

They were in the prefect's bathroom near the giant bathtub.

 _Why are the tubs so big? How many people do they expect are going to all take a bath together?_

Then Harry heard a sound.

He turned around to see Cedric turning the faucets.

 _What is he doing…?_

"Uh, Cedric? What are you doing?"

Cedric looked up at the Harry's question.

He just smiled and gestured to the tub.

"Well what does it look like?"

Harry looked back into the tub before answering Cedric.

"It looks like you're planning to take a racing bath."

Cedric chuckled and started to turn the knobs of more faucets. Some fancy looking liquids flowed out and into the water dying it various colors.

The swirled and mixed in the steadily rising warm water adding new fragrances.

The smells consisted of the perfumes of berries, cherry blossoms, vanilla and more that Harry couldn't discern.

Harry was so invested in his observations that he didn't notice that Cedric had moved.

"Well yes and no."

Harry jumped at the sound that came from right behind him.

Cedric must have found his reaction to his changed position funny since began laughing very hard.

A light color of pink dusted Harry's cheeks as he turned to see Cedric laughing on the tiled floor behind him.

"Ha, ha very funny Ced."

After a moment, Cedric stopped laughing and stared at Harry for a long moment.

Harry's cheeks darkened in color as he realized the nickname he dubbed Cedric without even hanging out with him for long.

 _Well it's too late to try and cover it up._

 _Just roll with it Harry!_

The female voice was starting to show up more often in his head. It was like it was starting to….overtake his mind….

"Wait, what?"

 _Yes and no?_

Cedric chuckled again except this time time he sounded a bit nervous.

"Well you see, uh, the egg only works when underwater."

Harry's face took on a confused look.

"What do you mean, it only works underwater? When you open it the only thing it does is emit a horrible screeching noise."

Cedric opened his mouth to answer, but then rethought about it and closed his mouth.

He was silent as if he was pondering what would be the best way to explain.

He just shook his head and put down a bag Harry just noticed he was carrying.

He opened it and took out his golden egg.

He carefully placed near the edge of the tub then did something unexpected, well at least for Harry.

He took off his shirt.

And his pants…

Thankfully Harry had already turned around, his face cherry red, when he saw Cedric start to pull off his shirt.

Harry barely heard the clothing fall to the ground over his rapidly beating heart.

 _What the bloody hell is happening?!_

His breathing picked up pace as he tried to calm his heart.

 _Calm down Harry!_

"Harry you can turn around now."

The sound startled him, but he slowly did as was asked.

He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that Cedric had changed into swimming trunks.

Cedric laughed at Harry's still furiously blushing face.

He then proceeded to lower himself into the water.

When the majority of his body was submerged, he carefully took the egg in his hands and dived underwater.

Harry walked to the edge of the tub and leaned over trying to see what Cedric was doing.

He saw a blurry and constantly shifting image of Cedric placing the egg on the bottom of the tub and twist the top.

As he opened it, Harry quickly covered his ears preparing for the muffled, but probably still loud, screeching noise.

He was surprised to hear only muffled…..

 _Is that singing?_

Harry slowly lowered his hands to the surprisingly soothing noise being emitted by the egg.

He stared wide eyed at Cedric's body underwater.

Suddenly Cedric's head popped up next to where Harry was standing.

"Hey!" Harry exclaimed get splashed with water.

"Sorry," Cedric said although he was smiling so much it was hard to tell if he meant it.

After Harry got over the shock of getting splashed, he sat down at the edge of the tub dipping his legs in the water.

"So what was that?" Harry inquired pointing in the general direction of the currently closed egg underwater.

"I would explain, but if you get in the water the egg can basically explain itself."

And now Harry was blushing again.

"G-get in the water? With y-you?"

Cedric eyed him trying to understand his sudden nerves.

"...Yes...So then I can show you what I mean about the egg…."

He said this slowly to make sure his message got across to Harry, since for some reason he didn't seem to be understanding a single thing he said today.

"B-but I don't have any swim trunks!"

Cedric just laughed at his nervous demeanor finally understanding why he was so nervous.

"It's fine, I brought an extra pair you can borrow."

Harry noticeably shrank with relief at this statement.

"Oh, uh, thanks mate!"

Cedric smiled and got out of the tub to get his bag.

Harry smiled, and blushed, to himself as he waited for Cedric to find the extra swim trunks.

"Here."

Harry accepted the clothing with a polite thank you.

Suddenly he blushed again when he realized that he had to take off his clothes.

"Um where should I…" he left the sentence hanging in hopes that Cedric would pick up on what he was trying to say.

Cedric stared at him confused for a bit before realization spread across his face.

"Oh, uh, there are shower stalls over there."

Cedric pointed to the left corner of the room which Harry saw led to another section of the prefects bathroom.

"Ok thanks." Harry said before walking over to the shower area.

* * *

He came back out a few minutes later with his clothes in hand.

Cedric was in the water just swimming around waiting for him.

While he was changing. the tub had filled with more water and the colorful liquids seemed to have been fancy soap since the tub was now covered with bubbles.

After a few minutes Cedric noticed that someone was looking at him and turned to see that Harry had changed his clothes.

He smiled and swam closer to where he stood.

"Hey! Now that you;ve changed I can show you what I meant about the egg."  
Harry was still a bit wary of Cedric so he took his time getting in the water.

However, once his body was mostly submerged the warm water relaxed his tense muscles and he sighed softly in relaxation.

He closed his eyes and floated for awhile.

Then laughter coming from behind him made him jolt upright and turn to see Cedric laughing at him.

"I see you're enjoying the water." Cedric said once he regained his composure.

Harry blushed once more but sheepishly shoved Cedric regardless of his red face.

"So where's the egg?" Harry asked quickly trying to divert Cedric's attention.

Cedric turned and swam over to his bag which he must have moved closer to the water while Harry was changing to be more convenient.

He pulled out the egg from the bag and swam back over to Harry.

"Alright are you ready?' Cedric asked as he prepared to open the egg.

"Almost." he replied then covered his ears.

"Okay ready!" he said a bit louder than usual.

Cedric stared at him oddly then removed his hands from his head.

"You don't have to do that. Just go under."

Harry hesitated for a moment, but decided to trust Cedric and went under.

Cedric smiled a bit at how Harry seemed to trust him, then he dipped under as well.

Cedric opened the egg at the seam, and the minute that it cracked open, sweet singing came from the egg, something oddly relaxing, that sang of the water, and the things that swam in it.

 _Merpeople?_ Harry thought.

Cedric looked up slightly gazing into Harry's eyes, and smiled slightly.

He smiled softly and nodded his head as if to confirm Harry's suspicions.

Harry felt his heart constrict for a moment strangely, and wondered why.

His conscious didn't even bother to explain it to him again. He would figure it out eventually.

Harry suddenly broke into a grin and swam up breaking the water's surface.

"Cedric!" he exclaimed, "We figured it out, Cedric!"

Cedric followed after him and laughed at his joyous outburst.

His British accent was really coming out as his excitement rose, Cedric observed, looking at him adoringly, and suddenly he couldn't hold it in any longer, and leaned forward and kissed him.

Harry froze for a second, and then suddenly, everything made perfect sense. He relaxed into the kiss, running his fingers through Cedric's light brown hair, barely noticing the rest of the world, as his heart ached for Cedric, and only him, all of him, his eccentric personality, stalkerish grins, boyish excitement, his smile...

He suddenly didn't mind any of it anymore. It was what he loved, Cedric, for his craziness, was the only thing that mattered.

 _Finally!_ His feminine turned subconscious exclaimed, and he didn't even acknowledge it to tell it to shut up.

Cedric wrapped his arms about Harry's shoulders, which Harry felt as warm, and hard with muscle.

Suddenly, a surprised yelp came from the door.

The two sprang apart to see a familiar red-headed girl in the doorway with a shocked look on her face.

"No…" she whispered, looking wide-eyed at Cedric and Harry who were both looking as shocked as she was.

"NO! I trusted you Harry!" she yelled, and ran down the corridor as fast as she could, as fast as she could, as far as she could from this nightmare. The night she kissed Harry flashed across her eyes, the way he looked at her, she could still feel his lips on hers and his fingers on her scalp, it would be burned into her memory forever, and he did the exact same thing with Cedric.

She ran faster as the sobs came, tears running from her eyes.

 _Never._

 _Never again._

"Wait Ginny I can explain—"

"NO! Stay away from me! I never want to see you again!" she yelled and ran to get as far away from the heartbreaking scene as she could.

"Ginny wait!" Harry yelled trying to go after her.

Ginny didn't hear him over the sound of rapidly beating, and breaking, heart as she ran.

* * *

 **(Switch to Ginny POV)**

Ginny ran and ran through the dark corridors.

Where she was running she didn't know. All she wanted to do was get away from Harry.

She ran and kept running until she finally had to stop and try to get some air back into her body.

While she was busy running, she hadn't noticed that she had started crying some point after she left the bathroom.

 _How could he do this to me?_

Everything had changed in a split moment. They were finally happy together, they trusted each other, they _loved_ each other….

 _Or so I thought_. She thought bitterly.

There was nothing she could trust anymore.

Suddenly, she saw the Gryffindor common room door on the right, and quickly whispered the password to the Fat Lady.

"Deary are you alright?" asked the painting actually noticing something other than herself for once.

Ginny quickly wiped her tears trying to compose herself.

"No, can you please just let me in?"

The Fat Lady swung open, and Harry came up, just to have the painting swing forward in his face, knocking him backwards.

"Password." she said, and he quickly told her, although there was no hope of catching up with her now that she was probably up in the girls dormitory.

As the painting swung shut, the Fat Lady sighed.

There was so much drama nowadays, with hormonal teenagers and like in Hogwarts.

 _The poor girl,_ she thought, _she was so nice too, and that guy she always looked at funny looked so unhappy._

 ** _Awww... Poor Ginny..._**

 ** _Well, things have been great, me and PJOandHP4life are writing a new chapter, so yay! Oh, and HorrorCupcake, don't worry, Ginny is not going over a cliff in a box, much worse things are coming her way. XD_**

 ** _Please review, favorite, and follow!_**


	11. Say No To Cedric

**_HELLO I'm here, and this chapter you get to see Moaning Myrtle again (Yay!), so read on..._**

 _Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap! You absolute idiot!_

"Ginny wait!" Harry swam as quickly as he could to the edge of the tub and pulled himself out.

 _This is all my fault. She'll never want to see me again._

"Harry stop!"

Harry spun without thinking to see Cedric.

"Leave me alone! You've ruined my life!" he spat viciously as he sank to the bathroom floor in despair.

Cedric flinched as he yelled the words obviously not happy at how broken Harry sounded.

Harry curled in on himself and let his sorrow take over his body.

He cried tears of heartbreak thinking of Ginny.

After about two minutes, Harry heard some footsteps. He thought that Cedric would finally leave him alone in his pain, but instead felt the presence of warm, strong arms wrapping around his weeping body.

"Harry…" Cedric whispered.

Harry looked up, and met Cedric's pleading gaze with his own.

Suddenly, a tense and nervous song began in the background.

A rising, maniacal laugh came from a ghost that swept in, her bespectacled eyes narrowed in the petty pleasure she got from seeing them all in such a predicament.

 _Predicament is ONE word you could use to describe it._ Harry thought. _The rest are unprintable._

She smiled, tossing her incredibly unattractive pigtails at the two of them.

"There's nothing like midnight in Hogwarts…" she crooned at the two of them

"Someone used a love potion to get someone looking pretty." she sang, going around them in circles, as the two watched her with a shocked look on each of their faces.

 _Has Ginny been using love potion on me all this time?_ Harry thought worriedly.

Cedric's his eyes grew wide as if he realized something and didn't seem to like it, Harry wondered what...

"There's trouble in the air, you can smell it…" she sang, always sickly happy over anyone's misfortunes.

"And these two were be themselves… I'll let Potter tell it," she said, unexpectedly looking at Harry Potter.

Then as if he was plunged into a pensive, the scene faded around Harry Potter to a flashback of O.W.L.s studying in the common room.

"I had barely slept in a week, I was weak, I was awake. You've never seen a famous orphan more in need of a break.

"Longing for Ginny, missing my friends... That's when Mr. Cedric Diggory walked into my life."

"He said..." Harry paused as Cedric and the corridor faded back into focus again, and Cedric sang his line in a surprisingly amazing voice.

"I know you are a man of honor. I'm so sorry to bother you so late, but there is no where to gooooo, and I came here all aloonnneeee…"

Harry sighed, his eyes closed, his face showing regret and sorrow. "He said…"

"Moaning myrtle is doing me wrong, watching me until all the bubbles were gone…" he sang in a low sweet voice that seemed to clutch at Harry's heart.

"Suddenly I'm all alone, I don't have the heart to go on…"

"So I offered him some food, offered to walk him to his common room… He said…"

Cedric batted his eyes and grabbed Harry's arm as they walked down the corridor.

"You're too kind, sir."

"I gave him chocolate frogs, that I had stocked away, he's dormitory a few feet away…. He said..."

Cedric walked forward grabbing his hand taking him through the Common room.  
"This one's mine, sir." Cedric said smiling.

"Then I said, well, I should head back to Gryffindor, he led me to the prefect's bathroom, took out the golden egg and said stayyyyy…."

Harry raised his eyebrows, looking at Cedric suddenly overcome with butterflies feeling loopy as he fluttered his eyelashes. "Heyyyyy…" he said flirtatiously.

Cedric returned the look with a "Heyyyyyyy..."

Harry looked torn as he thought of Ginny, who had loved him even for his odd quirks, love of Expelliarmus, and a knack for trouble. He imagined her bright red hair, and dry humor that could brighten up anyone's day, although his heart was pulling him towards Cedric.

"And I began to wait, thinking what would Ginny think of this, I don't know how to say no to this…" He brought his eyes up from where he buried them in the palms of his hands, looking up at Cedric, his whole heart aching.

"But his pretty face' so innocent," he sang as Cedric smiled shyly avoiding his eyes.

"And my heart gives its consent," he sang as the feminine voice encouraged him to move towards Cedric.

"Whoa…" sang Cedric in a surprisingly beautiful voice.

The time suddenly skipped to when he was in the water with Cedric holding the egg.

"Noooo, show me how to.. ( _Say no to this!)_ I don't know how to.. _(Say no to this!)_ "

Harry looked conflicted as he glancing back at the door.

"In my mind, I'm trying to go…"

 _Go! Go! Go!_ His mind protested trying to get him to leave, but was blocked by the feminine voice taking control and spreading a fuzzy feeling throughout his mind.

Cedric suddenly was much closer to Harry and began to lean in.

"Then his mouth mouth is on mine and I don't say…"

 _No! No! Say no to this! No! No! Say no to this! No! No! Say no to this! No! No! Say no to this!_

His mind shouted frantically trying to stop his actions, but was not heard.

Then the memory dissipated to show Cedric and Moaning Myrtle around Harry in the prefect bathroom.

Harry stood up wiping away his tears confused.

Cedric quickly stood up next to him glancing back and forth between him and Moaning Myrtle nervously.

 _What's going on…?_

Myrtle noticed his confused expression and happily smiled prepare to explain the situation.

"Well you see Harry Cedric has been a bit obsessed with you for awhile now…."

 _Well I already knew that what is she getting at?_

"And he wasn't very happy you see when you and the _Weasley girl_ became a couple." she said referred to Ginny with slightly repressed disgust as a flash of jealousy passed across her once gleeful face. When she saw Harry staring at her, she quickly painted her gleeful smile, although now a little forced, back on.

"He had been observing you to for awhile now and had decided he need to act soon before she selfishly took you all for herself…" Myrtle strayed off a sour expression on her face.

"Um, Myrtle can you continue?"

Myrtle snapped out of her unpleasant trance as Harry said this and smiled once more before continuing.

"Oh yes, sorry, of course."

Myrtle now looked to Cedric and started to float in circles around him with her gleeful smile back on.

"I noticed that Cedric had started coming to the prefect bathroom more often during the day and night. He would sometime even stay late at night until all the bubbles were gone." Myrtle paused her speech as she was overcome with giggles. After a few minutes she regained her posture and continued.

"He would be muttering something that sounded suspiciously like a love potion that I've heard a few other girls brewing in their bathrooms with whispers of you name here and there…"

 _Okay now I'm getting creeped out…_

"Then he came in one day mutter loudly saying, 'I can't wait any longer! I must do it while they're still in Hogsmeade,' and 'I have to finish it now before my opportunity is gone,' while making quite a mess."

Harry eyed Cedric as Myrtle said this noticing the older boy shift his feet nervously.

"Then just recently, while I think you were in the shower Harry if I recognized the noise correctly, Cedric was muttering something about, 'Time to test it and see how it goes,' or something like that."

Myrtle finally finished her speech as both her and Cedric anxiously waited for Harry's reaction.

Harry stared between Cedric and Myrtle in confusion until he finally put the pieces together.

He slowly turned his whole body to face Cedric looking at the ground in fury.

He could see Cedric shifting his feet nervously.

Then Harry slowly slide his eyes up the others torso until he reached his anxiously pleading eyes.

The heated anger in Harry's eyes as he glared at Cedric could incinerate a person.

Cedric gulped audibly as he went from trying to search Harry's eyes for mercy to desperately avoiding them at all costs.

" _You…."_

Cedric laughed nervously trying to relieve the tension, but only succeeded in causing Harry to now visibly shake in anger,

"Uh...Harry? We can, um, discuss this in a civilized manner right?" the Hufflepuff asked slowly backing away from the silently raging heartbroken wizard.

The music took an edgy twist as Harry inched towards Cedric.

"How could you!?" he screamed in his face.

He said, "No, sir!"

Cedric stood there half dressed, apologetic. He felt to his knees, a mess, he looked pathetic…

He cried, "Please don't go, sir!"

"So your whole story was a setup?!" Harry yelled referring to the long forgotten golden egg.

"I don't know about any potion!" Cedric cried starting to sob desperately.

"Stop crying! God just get up!"

"I just wanted your devotion!"

"I am ruined…" Harry said full of regret for something he had no control over.

Harry tried to walk away, but Cedric clung to him desperately.

"Please don't leave me with her!" he cried trying to avoid the creepy ghost.

"I am helpless how could you do this?!"

"Just forget about her, and you can have me!"

"I don't want you, I don't want you…" Harry repeated trying to pry his hands off of him.

"Whatever you want!" He pleaded.

"I don't…"

"If you wait, you can staaaaayy!" Cedric sang quite beautifully even in his pitiful state.

Then the song resumed from where it had left off as the potion kicked back in, slowly taking over Harry's mind despite his fighting.

"Lord, show me how to say not to this! I don't know how to say no to this!" As he sang his voice seemed to echo making the phrase "say no to this" echo and become louder as if multiple people were singing.

"Cuz the situation's helpless…And my heart is screaming, 'heck, yes'..."

"Whoooooaaaaaa!" Cedric sang.

"No, show me how to say no to this! How can I say no to this? There is nowhere I can go..."

 _Go! Go! Go!_

Despite Harry's fighting he inevitably gave over to the potion.

"My mind's going crazy and I don't say…."

 _No! Say no to this! No!_

"Yes!" Harry and Cedric sang opposing Harry's true thoughts.

 _Say no to this! No!_

"Yes!"

 _Say no to this! No!_

"Yes!"

 _Say no to this! No!_

"Yes..." sang Cedric flirtatiously knowing he won the battle.

Harry produced one more phrase trying to fight the potion, but the fight was over and this time he didn't win….

"Say no to this…. I don't say no to this…"

"Don't say no to this…" Cedric whispered softly in his ear making sure Harry was rendered defenseless.

"There is no where I can go…."

 _Go, go, go…._

Moaning Myrtle drifted over to the boys smiling smugly.

"So?"

Harry looked up at her in defeat.

"Nobody needs to know…."

 **NOOOOO SAY NO TO THIS HARRY WHYYYYYYY GINNY IS SOOOOO SADDD BUT YOU RUINED IT FOR HER AND NOWWWWWW SHHEEESSSSS SOOOOO SAD, and also if you liked this, please follow, and favorite, and also if you have any suggestions or comments, please put them in the reviews.**

 **-RBU**


	12. Ten Test Commandments

**HELLO EVERYONE I JUST LISTENED TO EVAN HANSON THE MUSICAL ALL THE WAY THROUGH AND I AM NOW SO AMAZED AND SHOOK AND I CANNOT BEGIN TO EXPRESS WHAT I THINK RIGHT NOW SO IF YOU HAVEN'T LISTENED TO IT DO THAT NOW READ THE SYNOPSIS TOO BECAUSE THE SONGS DON'T MAKE SENSE WITHOUT THE CONTEXT ANYWAYS...**

 **Sorry about taking so long to update, my computer froze, and did some weird crap, actually a whole lot of weird stuff, but anyways O.W.L.S ARE THIS CHAPTER, I bet everyone forgot through the whole Cedric/Harry/Ginny drama, but it's true.**

The next morning Harry woke up feeling rather depressed and disheveled.

 _Ugh...Why do I feel so crappy? What happened yesterday?_

He rubbed his eyes and stumbled out of his bed.

 _Odd...I can't remember going to bed._

Harry stretched out his body and stumbled out of bed trying to gather his thoughts.

For some reason his memory of the previous day was practically blank.

 _Huh? Odd. I can't seem to remember anything that happened yesterday..._

He opened his bleary eyes with difficulty as he pulled himself into a sitting position in his ruffled sheets.

"Harry c'mon! We're gonna be late!"

Harry turned to see Ron along with Seamus and Neville rushing to get their school robes on.

 _Aww great. School again._

"But I don't wanna get up…." Harry whined slurring his words together in his half awake state.

Ron wasn't taking that for an answer apparently as he dragged Harry out of bed shaking his shoulders ruffly to get his friend to wake up.

"Well neither do I, but we have to graduate don't we?"

However, Harry wasn't giving up easy. He just shoved Ron away and scrambled back under his sheets pulling his pillow out from under him onto his head to block out the sunlight and Ron's nagging presence.

Ron pulled back the sheets and tried to take the pillow away, but the stubborn wizard wouldn't let go.

After about two minutes of this Ron just gave up and got ready to leave.

"Fine! Stay in bed! Don't blame me for you missing O.W.L.s and never becoming an Auror!"

 _Wait...WHAT?!_

Harry immediate sat up rigid in his bed at that.

Ron let out a crazed laugh as he saw his friend suddenly hurry to scramble out of bed.

"Now he moves! Serves you right rejecting my generous aid!"

Harry ignored him trying to get ahold a calendar.

He ripped Neville's off of his wall reminding himself to apologize later.

 _What day is it? Please be Sunday, or Saturday, or even Tuesday or something! Just not Monday! Not Monday, not Monday, not Monday! Fate if you ever cared about me please let it not be Monday!_

The date was…

Monday

 _Well I'm screwed. Thanks a lot fate._

* * *

That morning was a blur. Harry had thrown on his robes, grabbed some notes and books at random, barely even thinking as he sprinted down the stairs into the common room. He didn't brush his teeth, or wash his face, or even put on deodorant, but his lack of hygiene was the least of his problems.

Apparently a good deal of the school thought this too, as the common room was a mess of frazzled-looking students, unbrushed hair, lost books, and panicked faces.

All of the younger students didn't have classes today because of the testing and were just lounging around laughing in their pajamas as the older kids ran around in panic.

Harry looked at them enviously.

Despite his extensive studying, he still felt terribly unprepared. He counted his books fast, making sure he had all of them, and hastily found a table in the common room to study at. He sat down, and began rummaging through his books.

"Hello!" Hermione said quickly under her breath, looking almost more of a mess than Harry.

She looked as if her stress had reactivated her hair problem from first hair, and it she her head looked like an angry Crookshanks.

"Can you believe it? O.W.L.s are finally here!" she said, panicked, "I ONLY MEMORIZED 11 OF OUR TEXTBOOKS?" she exclaimed "11! ANOTHER 2 BOOKS TO MEMORIZE! I'M GOING TO FAIL!" she cried.

Everyone paused for a minute to look at the crazed girl incredulously.

"YOU'RE GOING TO PASS FOR THE LAST TIME!" they all screamed at her once more after having to deal with her panicked state for the past month.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT? HUH?!" Hermione yelled back.

"BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T THEN WE'LL ALL FAIL!" yelled Harry, who had forgot to study the day before.

 _Or did I? I honestly can't remember._

Professor McGonagall showed up in the doorway, and led the panicking students to their doom. On the way there, there was a crowd around Hermione, as she recited the History of MAgic textbook word-for-word to the other nervous students.

"Ah yes O.W.L.s have arrived. I both love and despise this time. Love because for once everyone is listening in my class. Despise because of the actually testing drama." Harry heard her say under her breath as she lead the panicking students down the corridor. She sighed, and touched the impeccable bun her hair was kept in, and he couldn't help thinking of how it contrasted to the messy, tangled nests on the stressed students' heads.

Then as they rushed down the hallway some random kid flew by screaming, "I'M GOING TO DIIIIIEEEE!"

Some students paused to look at him then looked to Professor McGonagall expecting her to reprimand the student. However, she just ignored them as if this was completely normal, which considering the current circumstances probably was in fact.

Along the hallway in the benches, people practiced summoning and transfiguration charms on their books, while others quizzed each other on how to care for a baby unicorn.

Copies of "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" were strewn across one hallway, which McGonagall flicked her wand and set in a neat stack in the corner without a second glance.

Neville looked close to an emotional breakdown, as Luna was trying to show him how to do an Expelliarmus charm. Despite the commotion, Harry grinned. _Expelliarmus._ That was his absolute favorite!

Harry casually handed Neville some of his most in-depth notes on Expelliarmus.

Neville grinned, and thanked him, and Luna gave him a relieved look.

Finally they reached the Great Hall where most of the testing was to take place.

Then the nervous singing began along with strange tense music.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine…."

Harry, Hermione, and Ron stepped forward as if possessed to sing the next few lines.

"It's the Ten Test Commandments!"

Then everyone sang together in sync.

"It's the Ten Test Commandments!"

….

"Number one!"

Then they started rapping.

"The challenge: demand fresh parchment. If they do provide no need for further comments." Harry said.

"Number two!" the surrounding students sang. "If they don't, grab some of a friends', that's your second!" said Ron said, searching through his schoolbag for a quill. "Your writing supply when there's a lesson to be reckoned!" said Hermione said, handing Ron a quill.

"Number three!" exclaimed the students.

"Have your students and tests come face to face!" instructed Dumbledore.

"Negotiate an answer!" said Hermione, rubbing her head, trying to think of one.

"Or negotiate a time and place!" said Neville, holding up his chubby little fists.

Luna facepalmed as the crowd of students gave her a collective "Get your man" look.

"Panic is commonplace, especially among students." said McGonagall.

"Most people pass if they are prudent!" added Fred and George in unison, giving Ron encouraging thumbs-ups through the classroom window they were glued to.

 _How did they get there?_ Ron thought _We have to be 20 floors up in the equivalent of a regular muggle building!_

"Number 4!" said the crowd of students, "But if you don't pass, that's okay! You can just go back to the muggle world and work for little pay!" said Dumbledore cheerfully.

 _Yeah, no pressure or anything._ Ron thought gloomily

"This test is pretty hard, let's hope you don't die!" said George. "If you cheat off Hermione, your grades will be high!" Fred added cheerfully as they drove off in the Weasley's flying car.

 _So that's how they got here._ thought Ron. _Mom's going to kill them._

"Five!" yelled the students.

"Hope you remember notes from last night..." said Ron, running a hand through his bright red hair nervously.

"And that maybe Neville won't try to fight!" said Luna as Neville blushed lowering his hands.

"Number six!" the students sang.

Snape walked in, and in his dreary voice he said "Look carefully at the paper, you are going to have to face this."

"Face your fate, that's the only way you can ace this!"

"Seven!" exclaimed the students.

"Confess any sins. Ready to face the teachers. Hopefully you don't soil your breachers." said Neville.

"Number eight!"

"Your last chance to get your thoughts straight. Revisit your tricky answers, they control your fate!"

"Harry Potter."

"Professor Snape sir?"

"Haven't we agreed that this singing during a test is dumb and immature?"

"Sure, but Hamilton is a great musical, sir."

"Yes, but this is school. Doesn't it seem absurd Potter?"

"Hang on, how many major musicals were so relatable to our crisis?" Harry said.

"Okay, so we're doing this…" he mumbled in his monotone, greasy, Snapey way.

"Number nine!"

"Look 'em in the eye, aim your wand higher! Summon all the courage you require! Then count:"

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine…."

"Number ten—"

"Start!" shouted professor Dumbledore.

Then the room fell silent as the students went to work on their tests.

 **Wow. It takes me sooo long to come up with suitable rhymes, this is probably why I am a story writer, and not a song writer. XD Writing this was like a whole lot of deja vu, because this is like the PSAT 8/9 or the HSA all over again. Getting up, not hygienizing, and cramming in every available second... But at least it's summer now so we don't get any more stressful tests with creative acronyms. :)**

 **Yet...**

 **-RBU**

 **P.S. I wonder if hygenizing is a word...**

 **P.S.S. STEP OUT STEP OUT OF THE SUN IF YOU KEEP GETTING BURRNNNEDDD STEP OUT STEP OUT OF THE SUN BECAUSE YOU LEARNED, BECAUSE YOU LEARNEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD**


	13. Burn

**Okay, back to Ginny's dating drama... This chapter is pretty much all about Ginny thinks about Harry cheating on her, so sorry if we made it a little dramatic. :)**

 **This one was actually really fun to write, so, well read on...**

Ginny wasn't leaving her room.

She didn't care about classes, she wasn't going.

Then again she didn't have any classes because of O.W.L.s starting today, but you get her point.

Since she ran into her dormitory after being a witness to (the unimaginable, sorry I had to), she hadn't moved from her spot on her bed.

She had cried so much that she didn't have any more tears to cry. All she could do was shake with barely contained sorrow.

Hermione had tried to talk to her, but she didn't feel like reliving (the unimaginable, okay okay I'll stop) so she just pushed her away. Eventually Hermione gave up trying to figure out what was wrong and left for O.W.L.s.

 _Why did he do this to me? Am I not good enough for "the great chosen one"? Was he not satisfied?_

Ginny roughly rubbed her face, as if to try to clear her mind. It was no use thinking about it anymore. But...how could she just forget _him_? He was her brother's best friend and practically adopted into the Weasley family. He was the one person, other than Hermione, she thought she could trust with anything, _everything_ , and, well, she was wrong.

He wasn't the only one who had betrayed her trust.

She thought of Cedric, her _friend_ , as they had spoke before, exchanging jokes, stories, and laughs. He was kind to her.

He had always seemed to have a joking gay crush on Harry, but never would have hurt her.

She had dismissed this as him just fooling around, but maybe he wasn't ever joking.

 _How did I never realize…?_

Clearly, she was wrong about a lot.

She looked down at her tear stained pillow, but she had no more tears to shed.

Her eyes burned with rage.

 _Well he has no more control over me. He will be a part of my life no longer._

But he _was_ the chosen one! He would always be there. Even if he and Ron weren't friends anymore, he will _always_ be there.

 _Well unless Voldemort finally kills him, but I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Not even him._

But he was no longer a part of _her_. Ginny had once thought that he was a part of her, like a organ, her heart, that she could no less separate from her or kill herself.

 _Well I won't let this destroy me. I will rebuild my heart. I will move on from him. I will continue to be my amazing self because you know what? I'm going to be amazing without him. I don't need him. He will have to live the rest of his life without me because I'm done with him. I'm erasing myself from the narrative._

She reached under her bed, and pulled out a leather-bound notebook, her journal.

Ginny thought of all the pages that she dedicated to only _him._ Looking back on it she nearly giggled about her little schoolgirl crush on him. It seems so silly now. How could she have trusted so easily? Hand over her heart so _easily_?

She thought over how she had kissed him, once, on the cheek, and had dated him for one day, but she had already gotten so attached. She felt foolish now.

Ginny opened the journal, and flipped through it to a certain page.

 _December 17,_

 _Today, we went to Hogsmeade, me and Hermione decided to head over to a book shop to see what had come out recently. It was a cold day, although picturesque with little dainty snowflakes falling from the sky, and warm light flooding from the windows of the shops. Shoppers bustled through the streets, laughing, and I laughed a little, seeing little children trying to hide gifts from their siblings under their shirts. I thought of her childhood when my siblings and I had been skipping through these streets, poking fun at each other, and Dad was trying to rein us in, having no luck, as Mom was off to the robes store to pick out some new robes to give to Charlie, who had grown out of all his old ones. I smiled, and was torn from my flashback, seeing Ron and Harry decided to head to Honeydukes to pick up some chocolates. I had passed by, and seen Harry and Ron joking and laughing with each other in the warm store, and I stopped to watch in by the side of the store. Harry picked up a box of Chocolate Cauldrons, and shoved it in Ron's face jokingly. Ron's eyes went wide, and I smirked, remembering the love potion incident. Harry laughed, and his face had stretched in a broad smile, and I felt my cheeks grow hot, despite the cold. I smiled, looking at Harry. Suddenly, Harry turned and looked at the window, and I shoved myself in a shrub quickly, and when I saw he hadn't seen me, I let out a breath, and let my mouth spread into a giddy smile. I heard a voice behind me, and tugged my homemade knit scarf around my neck._

" _Close call, huh?"_

 _Hermione stood there, holding some new books to her chest, with a knowing smile on her face._

" _Um." I said helpfully. "I was just smelling the flowers?"_

" _Ginny it's winter, there are no flowers."_

 _I blushed even harder realizing my mistake._

" _Uh, I guess you are right…." she said in a small voice standing up to her full height and moving away from the bush._

 _Hermione just chuckled and reached out to take a twig out of my hair._

" _Well," Hermione said with a wink, "Let's head to that book store. Christmas is coming, and I hear Harry wanted a copy of Quidditch Through The Ages."_

" _Uh," I said, quickly looking back at Honeydukes, or more specifically at Harry, a brief glance that Hermione didn't fail to catch. I smiled wide. "Sure."_

 _And I allowed her to lead me into the the snow-covered street, in search of a good bookstore._

Ginny groaned in frustration, having exited the flashback.

She put her hand to her face, and ripped out the page, and looked at it for a long moment.

Then in a fit of rage she started tearing out all of the pages in her journal about Harry.

 _I'm erasing you from my life. I'm forgetting the memories..._

She rushed down the stairs, her hands filled with pages of her sorrow, into the common room, and straight to the fire there, and threw them in, one by one, tearing at them, reading them, and demolishing them.

There was one first year there lounging around after the O.W.L. rush.

She stared at Ginny with confusion and irritation.

"Um. can you have this weird rage fit somewhere else?" they said in an annoying nasally voice.

Ginny just wiped her head towards them sending a death glare so great it overpowered Hermione's. Her face plainly said, "LEAVE ME THE FRICK ALONE UNLESS YOU WANT TO FEEL MY PAIN! IF YOU CAN'T DEAL WITH IT, THEN FIGHT ME B****!"

The first year's eyes went wide in fear, and they thankfully got the gist and immediately ran out of the common room, leaving her things in her haste to live another day.

Ginny then felt a little guilty for being so harsh, even though she didn't actually say anything, but then again the girl was dealing with her first, and hopefully last, teenage heartbreak.

Ginny held the pages of parchment in her hands, glare at them and the memories they held.

Then the depressing music started.

And Ginny started to sing.

"I saved every memory I wrote of you. From the moment I saw you, I knew you were mine, you said you were mine, I thought you were mine." she sang, kneeling at the fire, broken, with the pieces of her heart ripped in her hands.

"Do you know what Hermione said, when we saw my face when you first arrived? She said: 'Be careful with him, Ginny. He will do whatever it takes to survive.'"

"You and your eyes flooded my senses. Your face left me defenseless. I built palaces out of your love. I built cathedrals."

Ginny glared down at her words twisting and turning into beautiful happy memories that created her patronus.

 _They were all lies...How long had they been lies? Where does the line separating the truth and deception begin?_

"I'm re-reading my memories, of you and me. I'm searching and scanning in every line, for some kind of sign, of when you were miiiiiine."

She paused, sighing, and looking down at the scraps of paper crinkling in black ashes, and red flames. Looking down, she sighed, closing her eyes, resigned to this fate.

"The world seemed to buurrrrnnnnnnnn….. Burrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnn" she sang softly, and sweetly.

"You and your bravery, driving to fulfill your legacy….

Your actions are borderline senseless…

And I was paranoid in every paragraph

Of how your friends think of youuuu..."

"You, you, you."

She spat the word, over and over, as if it were poison in her mouth.

She curled into a ball holding the remnants of her journal in her shaking hands.

 _Why….?_

She wondered, not for the first time, where she went wrong. Where her paradise had transformed into a monster devouring her innocent heart.

She cried out brokenly in her agony.

 _No...I won't let you destroy me...This is my life…_

She stood up confidently wiping away the tears that had been running down her cheeks without her knowledge.

"I'm erasing myself from the narrative." she sang, watching the story of her and Harry's relationship being devoured by the greedy flames.

"Let Cedric and your friends wonder how Ginny reacted when you broke her heart.

You have torn it all apart." she said ironically, looking at the memories she tore apart with her own hands desperate to rid her herself of the pain.

"I am watching it…." she said looking at the fire "Buuuuuuurrrrrrnnnn…."

"Watching it buuurrnn….." she sang, her face upturned to see the smoke billowing up the chimney, looking almost like the image of a wolf howling at the moon.

" _THE WORLD HAS NO RIGHT TO MY HEART!_

 _THE WORLD HAS NO PLACE IN MY LIFE!_

 _THEY DON'T GET TO KNOW WHAT I SAID!_

 _I'M BURNING THE MEMORIES_

 _BURNING THE MEMORIES THAT MAY HAVE REDEEMED YOU!_

 _YOU FORFEIT THE RIGHTS TO MY HEART!_

 _YOUR FORFEIT YOUR PLACE IN MY HEAD!_

 _YOU'LL LOOK TO CEDRIC INSTEAD!_

 _WITH ONLY THE MEMORIES_

 _OF WHEN YOU WERE…_

 _MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!"_

Ginny paused for a minute to catch her ragged breath.

Then she whispered:

" _Goodbye Harry Potter…"_

She fell once again to her knees and looked into the fire.

Her teary eyes blurred her vision, but she could still make out the firey blaze of destruction that would hopefully erase her pain and make way for new memories of happiness to grow.

She took out one page she had ripped out much earlier when she first ran into her dormitory right after the horrid events.

It was a picture of her and Harry together at Hogsmeade when they had fallen in the snow during a snow fight tackle.

She smiled for a moment, before her face took on the heartbroken look it has had for the past few hours.

"I hope that you…

 _BUUUUUURRRRNNNN…"_

* * *

"Hey Ginny! I'm back from O.W.L.s! I hope I got all of the questions right! Can you imagine (sorry I really should stop) if I get an E instead of an O? Or Merlin forbid, what if I get an A?! Gosh they were hard, and this was only the first day! You have absolutely no idea how lucky you—"

Hermione stopped her ranting immediately when she entered the common room hoping to finally relax from constant testing, only to see a distressed Ginny Weasley on the ground. She was sitting in front of the fireplace surrounded by ashes of what seems to have once been parchment.

"Oh my! Are you alright?!" she spoke frantically as she rushed to her best friend's side.

Ginny didn't respond, only looking into the fire as though in a trance.

Hermione shook her shoulders trying to get her to speak, move, do _something._

"Ginny! Ginny answer me!"

The ginger finally stirred at the sound of her name being said repeatedly.

She turned to see Hermione sitting beside her with her eyes frantically searching her face for any sign that the other girl actually heard her voice.

Ginny realized that she was staring off into space when her friend had come into the room.

"Oh hi Hermione."

Hermione sighed in relief as her friend finally answered her.

"Thank goodness! What happened?!"

Ginny looked back at the fire for a moment.

Just when Hermione began to fear that she was lost in her mind again Ginny spoke.

"There's something I need to tell you…."

Hermione noticed the tone of caution in her voice and turned the other girl away from the fire so that she was looking into her eyes.

"Ginny, what is it? You know you can trust me with anything right?"

"Yes."

"Then, you can tell me whatever it is that is bothering you."

Ginny bit her lip suddenly nervous.

 _Maybe she will side with Harry. Maybe she was never really my friend and was faking it all just like he had. Maybe—_

"Ginny you can trust me." Hermione said interrupting her doubtful thoughts and wrapping the girl in a warm and welcoming hug.

Ginny held Hermione close trying to reassure herself of the world.

 _Not everyone will betray you. There are still good innocent people out there._

She took a deep breath before steeling herself to explain….everything.

"Okay, here it is…."

 **Hello! So I hope everyone enjoyed that chapter, and please write what you think in the reviews! Any suggestions would be welcome! We are thinking of making a Congratulations for Hermione after she finds everything out, which will be fun. Hermione is kinda an Angelica in her own way. Life has been crazy, with school coming, and a really stupid summer project I need to do, so sorry if I don't update very fast.**

 **-RBU**

 **P.S. MY DOGGIE SAYS HI**

 **P.S.S. Me and PJOandHP4life would like to run a poll on whether Jefferson is a cinnamon roll or not, so please cast your vote by reviewing either of our stories, or PMing either of us, thanks!**


	14. Congratulations, Harry!

**Alright, um, here's more drama, hope you all enjoy, things do really get complicated, and while Ginny survived, Harry is gonna pay for it. Now watch as Hermione** **unleashes** **her rage and basically destroys Harry over and over...**

"So that's it basically."

After Ginny finished talking the room was silent as Hermione digested the new information.

They had gone up to their shared dormitory to talk for some privacy so both girls were currently sitting on Ginny's bed.

Ginny was quietly looking down at her ash covered fingers, waiting for Hermione to explode in anger.

However as time stretched on the silence only became more suffocating.

Ginny looked up to see Hermione's face going through various expressions.

First her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, next her eyes grew wide in disbelief, then her face contorted in anger, and then it landed on indecision for awhile.

Ginny hesitantly touched her hand ironically in an attempt to comfort her friend. "Uh….Hermione? Are you...okay?"

Then Hermione sat rigid.

Her face went completely blank.

Ginny tried to catch her eyes to discern her current emotions, but was unsuccessful.

Suddenly, the emotionless girl stood up and walked to the door.

Ginny jumped up alarmed and followed after her confused.

She grabbed her arm just before she left the room.

"Hermione what are you doing?"

Hermione finally looked at her and painted a small reassuring smile on her face.

"Don't worry. I'll be right back." she said before wrapping the younger girl in a tight hug.

Ginny was in shock for a minute before she relaxed into the comforting gesture.

They stood there for a moment holding each other tightly.

Some tears came to Ginny's eyes but she made no move to wipe them away.

They separated their bodies although still holding on to each other's arms tightly. Hermione must have felt the wetness as she reached up to wipe her tears as the hug came to an end. "Are you okay?"

Ginny thought the question over carefully and she surprised herself by nodding slowly as she felt that she actually _would be_ okay.

Hermione smiled softly before her face took on the blank look once more as she pulled away out of Ginny's grasp and walked out the door.

Ginny stood there staring at the door even more confused than before.

 _What is she doing? I told her about my heartbreak and she just leaves the room…_ Then it hit her and she paled, not sure what to feel.

 _Oh, no...She's gonna kill him._

 _Should I do something?_

 _Nah he'll be alright….maybe_

* * *

 **(Hermione POV)**

Hermione was on a mission.

A mission to kill.

And her target is going to wish he was killed by the Dark Lord when he had the chance.

 _Someone's gonna die today._

She left the dormitory she shared with Ginny and walked down the stairs into the common room.

Some people had started trickling in after O.W.L.s had ended for the day. Most of the older students coming from the constant testing looked exhausted, and the others were hopefully anxious.

Then a special few just went up to their dormitories with looks of barely disguised horror on their faces. A group of first and second years went up to some of the more approachable older students asking questions about the test.

"How long were each section?"

"Were the teachers harsh?"

"Did anyone try to use a Auto-Answer Quill? Were they caught?"

"What were they questions like? Did any require correct spelling? Oh, I hope not. I'm awful at that."

The questions went on, and on. A few students tried answering some. Others told the younger students to "put a sock in it".

Then one unfortunate and quite oblivious boy went up to Hermione with the intention of trying to get some answers out of the smartest witch he knew.

"Hey Hermione! How was the test? I bet you aced everything with how smart you are! Do you have any pointers for younger kids like me to use too try to achieve a high score you will inevitably achieve."

He added an innocent smile with big hopeful eyes for more effect.

Hermione just ignored the kid and kept walking, but he was persistent.

"I see you're focussed on getting to your destination. I'm sorry to be a burden, I just—"

"Look, I appreciate the flattery and all, but I _need to do something."_

She end her sentence grabbing the poor kids shoulder and glaring into his eyes only 6 inches from her own.

He paled and nervously laughed before running to hide.

Hermione thought she heard him say something like, "Crap now I've totally got a crush on her!" but she discarded it focussing on her mission.

The people around her had seen her reaction to the poor boy and made sure to leave the fuming girl alone.

Hermione just ignored them and walked, or more stomped, out the common room.

She looked out at the constantly moving staircases, trying to decide where to look first.

 _I'll make my way to the Great Hall and start from there._

She waited for a staircase to settle at the Gryffindor common room and rushed down the stairs.

After walking around searching frantically for awhile, she finally found him.

As soon as she saw that mop of messy raven black hair her vision tunneled in.

 _There he is._

She made her way towards him, her anger slowly growing more and more as she thought over the many things he did wrong.

 _How could he?! He knew she liked him and was always awkward around her. All the signs led to him having a crush on her! Then when they became a couple he was SO happy! He couldn't take his eyes off of her. Then kept dreamily ranting about how pretty she was, how kind, how perfect. How could he suddenly change his mind? Why!? She trusted him….I trusted him!_

While this rant went on in her head, she had made her way to where the oblivious boy was standing talking to—

 _Is that RONALD?!_ _Doesn't he know….wait….Ginny didn't tell anyone else so he wouldn't know. Okay, that makes more sense._

She calmed down a bit until she realized that Harry was talking to Ron and laughing.

He was talking to _Ron_ and _laughing?!_

 _After what he did to his sister?! He should be hiding in shame not laughing!_

Hermione finally reached the boy, but made no move to acknowledge her presence.

Harry kept on laughing oblivious to the murderous girl behind him.

However, the boys he was talking to, Ron, Neville, and Dean, saw her.

Ron smiled widely about to say something, probably hello, when he saw her face.

He gulped visibly staring uneasily at her murderous glare aimed straight at Harry's head.

Dean did the same and looked down at his feet as though he was too scared to look at her.

Neville was a little less observant and thought nothing was wrong.

"Hermione! What are you doing here? I thought you had gone back to the common room to relax with Ginny?"

Harry turned around to see her standing behind him.

"Oh hey Hermione! Sorry I didn't see you there."

Hermione's glare seemed to only grow more intense at this as she inched closer to the boy.

 _Really? You're going to pretend nothing is wrong?!_

Harry's eyebrows furrowed in confusion and he stepped back as she entered his personal space.

"Uh, Hermione? What's wrong?"

That only seemed to make her even more angry until she was practically simmering.

 _Wow...This is low...I see I was wrong about you...Or did you change with all of this new fame?_

Harry gulped and made the wise decision not to talk anymore.

Ron, however, didn't get the message and tried to reason with his girlfriend.

"Hermione what's going on? Why are are you so made? Did something happen?"

"Hermione stay focussed on Harry's every move, but did respond.

"Ronald would you please go with Neville back to the common room while I have a talk with _Harry_."

She said this with a carefully controlled voice, spitting Harry's name with barely hidden disgust.

"Um, why? Can you please just tell me what's going—"

"RONALD—" she said raising her voice slightly before taking a deep breath, closing her eyes, and looked to him.

 _It's not his fault Hermione. He doesn't know._

She forced a reassuring smile on her face trying to relax her voice.

"Everything will be fine. I just need to talk with Harry for a moment then we'll join you and explain everything. Okay?"

Ron still seemed unconvinced but Neville caught the vibe and got him to go.

"Come on Ron, let's leave them alone. This seems important." he said putting his arm around his shoulder steering him away from the two.

 _Thanks Neville._

Hermione sent him a grateful smile as they walked away. Neville smiled back and nodded in acknowledgement.

After they left, Hermione focussed back on her mission.

 _Now, time to clear this up._

Then the music started.

It sounded a bit similar to the music when Cedric sang Satisfied and this whole thing started.

"Hermione….?" Harry sang unsure of what was going on.

"Harry Potter…." Hermione sang back shaking her head at the mess he'd made.

Then she looked back at him and smiled cruelly.

"Congratulations."

Then the roasting began.

"You have invented a new kind of stupid.

A 'damage you can never undo' kind of stupid,

An 'open all the cages in the zoo' kind of stupid,

'Truly you didn't think this through' kind of stupid'."

Everytime she said "stupid" Hermione walked forward poking his chest with her index finger as Harry backed away with fear slowly growing in his eyes.

Any students nearby quickly made themselves scarce quickly realizing Hermione was in one of her angry moods. They had learned from experience to stay _far away_ from her at times like this.

But Hermione wasn't done yet.

"Let's review:

You took a stalker you barely even knew and followed him _alone_ into a bathroom, you let him—does this amuse you?!" She paused shaking her head once more before glaring intensely into his confused eyes.

"I asked you to take care of her…. _How dare you?"_

Harry was immensely confused and looked like he wanted to ask what she was talking about, but made the decision to stay silent with one look at Hermione's face.

"So scared of what Voldemort will do to you, but you're the only enemy you're going to lose to." Hermione said frustratedly grabbing her hair as she began to pace back and forth using wild hand gestures.

"You know why Diggory achieved what he wants? He chose to dignify love potions as a response!"

She stopped to yell in his face.

"So yeah, congratulations!"

Harry's face contorted in confusion at the mention of Cedric before going as pale as Nearly Headless Nick.

He tried to say something.

"Hermione—"

"You've redefined your personality, congratulations!" Hermione said cutting him off.

 _You don't deserve to defend yourself after this. I understand the influence of the potion can change someone, if that really was what Cedric slipped in you drink. Still...I've seen you resist worse than that! Why didn't you resist!?_

Hermione opened her mouth to probably ask just that, when Harry had an outburst.

"It was an act under influence!" he yelled desperately, his eyes pleading for her to understand.

Hermione hesitated at that before steeling her emotions once more.

 _It's too late to explain that to Ginny. He could have stopped it. If he would resist an Imperius curse, a forbidden curse, he should have been able to resist a weak potion from a joke shop. He could have...but he didn't._

Hermione looked at him trying to search his eyes.

 _He needs to understand how big this is. He needs to make amends._

"Influence?" she said with a tone of disbelief.

"Ginny began to love you longer than I could ever possibly imagine, I look you at you and think "What have you done with her life and where did it get us?" That doesn't wipe the tears of your peers away…" she sang, envisioning an unhappy Ginny by the fireplace, with Luna, Neville, and Ron trying to comfort her.

"But I'm still in the picture, and I'm here to stay, and you know what I'm here to doooo…"

"Hermione.." Harry pleaded.

"I'm not here for you…"

"I know my best friend like I know my own mind, you will never find anyone as trusting or as kind. And a million years ago she said to me 'This one's mine.' and I stood by her side…

Do you know why?" she yelled.

A lot of the passserbys was now watching, as Hermione destroyed Harry, some people that happened to turn to walk through that corridor came to an abrupt halt. Hermione paused to glare at the sending a clear message.

" _Go away now while you still can walk."_

Harry also saw them and sent a slightly different message with his eyes.

" _Please help me from this emotional teenage girl! I'm not ready to die yet!"_

The four students looked at each other, and as if they had a telepathic conversation, all nodded their heads in agreement before they ran as fast as they could in the other direction.

Harry's shoulders dropped slightly in resignation that he wouldn't make it to see tomorrow.

Hermione just turned back to Harry and resumed her angry musical assault.

"I love my friends more than anything in this life, I'd choose their happiness over mine every time!"

She paused tearing up as she became more passionate in her song.

"Ginny—"

"Ginny…." Harry mumbled with sorrow.

"So keep in mind that Ginny is one of the best things in our lives! Never lose sight of the fact that you have been blessed with the love of your life!" she sang, her voice getting louder with rage and Harry fearfully backed away.

"Congratulations! For the rest of your liiiife…

Every sacrifice you make will be for Ginny, give her the best liiiife!"

She stopped and glared at him for a second.

" _Congratulations_!" she spat, and turned on her heel back to the common room, leaving Harry with a shocked look on his face in the middle of the corridor.

 **Okay, I just wanted to thank morganna12 and GryffinGirl for the reviews, that's great, and thank you for all the favorites and follows, me and PJOandHP4life have been excitedly texting each other over all of them, because that's great! So thanks.**

 **And also I'm about to post another chapter in a few minutes so just wait for it...**

 **-RBU**


	15. Eye of the Hurricane

**Harry has really made a mess of things, hasn't he? We will see what Ron and Neville have to say about this... How is Harry going to fix this?**

 **(Harry POV)**

Harry stood in shock for about a minute trying to digest what just happened.

 _How…?_

 _Forget it!_ He thought irritably, frustrated with himself, he began to walk back to the common room with his head held low.

He adamantly ignored the curious, prying looks he was getting as he walked.

He clutched his books to his chest, and walked quietly to the Gryffindor (no pun this time, this is too depressing...), and mumbled "Quidditch." under his breath.

The Fat Lady looked at him concernedly, but opened with no word, as he shuffled in.

Harry sighed and went straight to the boy's dormitory, he ignored anyone trying to start a conversation about the O.W.L.s on his way there.

 _And to believe I thought the stupid test was going to be the end of me…._

Thankfully he didn't come across Ron, Hermione, or ( _Merlin forbid_ ) Ginny in the common room.

 _Hermione must be in the girls dormitory comforting Ginny. And Ron...I don't know, but I'm not eager to find out._

He was glad to see that no one else was in the dormitory. He couldn't bare to face Ron, or anyone else, right now.

Harry sighed as he went over to his bed and he set down his stuff, by the bed stand, then laid down looking up at the ceiling, trying to make sense of what he had done.

 _I thought I really liked Cedric… and Ginny too?_

He sighed at his past ignorant thoughts.

 _What made me think that I could have them both, and how could I go and kiss Cedric when I am dating Ginny? WHY?_ He thought his rage at himself mounting.

 _Ginny was one of the kindest people that I knew, and he still had feelings for her… But he went and ruined it? He clearly had never deserved someone like her, for how he had never even tried to resist the love potion. He had pretty much hurt the person he cared about most._

 _Most?_

He suddenly thought of Cedric, although he hadn't feelings for him anymore.

 _Love potion must have worn away. He had never been able to see the difference between his true feelings and his fake ones, had never had a second thought to the contrast._

 _Here he was, the great "Chosen One", whatever, with a will strong enough to resist an Imperius curse, but somehow unable to say no to a combination of Cedric's charm and a love potion, from a joke shop._

 _Honestly Harry what is wrong with you._

He looked up at the ceiling, almost lost in his anger for himself, when suddenly, the door opened, and Ron and Neville walked in.

 _Great, just perfect._

"Are you alright, mate?" Ron asked, sitting on the bed next to Harry.

The wide-eyed concerned look on his face telling that Hermione and Ginny hadn't told him what had happened.

 _Well at least I have a few more minutes of him still being my friend._

Neville shyly walked over after setting his stuff on his bed, and wondering if Harry was alright, too.

"Yeah, sure." Harry said halfheartedly, looking up at his ceiling with a glazed, unresponsive expression.

"Harry?" Neville said, moving to stand at the end of his bed looking at his friend in concern.

 _It was too late to take it back. They would find out in some way or the other._ Harry thought.

"I cheated on Ginny." he finally stated, his heart beating rapidly.

It was the first time he ever announced it aloud since it happened.

 _I guess that makes it official. No turning back or running away from my mistakes now._

He began breathing hard, as adrenaline began to kick in waiting for their reaction.

"WHAT?" Ron blew up, jumping to his feet immediately, the suddenness of his movement shaking the bed along with other nearby objects.

Neville's look of resigned disappointment made Harry just as regretful as Ron's blowup.

"With...who?" Neville asked quietly.

"Cedric." Harry said blankly.

The silence in the room was tense and icy cold enough to freeze a hot butterbeer straight from Three Broomsticks.

Then Ron burst into motion about to attack Harry, and Neville, having foregone his chubby first years of Hogwarts, quickly held Ron back with surprising strength.

Ron struggled, his face going as red as his hair.

"Let's get this right." he hissed to Harry, his rage barely contained even in low volume he was speaking.

"MY BEST FRIEND JUST CHEATED ON MY LITTLE SISTER, AFTER I TRUSTED YOU WITH HER, _MY LITTLE SISTER_! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS FEELS LIKE?!" he yelled.

He breathed hard for a few seconds, his expression a face of masked rage.

"Of all the people I trusted, I thought you would be the last to betray me! My little SISTER Harry!" he yelled, smoke practically coming out of his ears.

The thought reminded Harry of that time all the guys sat around eating the magical jelly beans someone snuck out of Honeydukes.

 _This is not the time to be reminiscing on good times Harry. Don't space out._

"SHE TRUSTED YOU, SHE _LOVED_ YOU, AND YOU BETRAY _HER_ FOR _CEDRIC DIGGORY_?!"

Ron paused, gasping for breath as he continued to struggle against an unhappy looking Neville.

"For…. _Cedric_?"

For a fleeting moment, he saw a look of vulnerability in Ron's expression, one that nearly matched Neville's.

Harry's heart broke once more. He realized he hadn't only betrayed the love of his life, he also betrayed his best friend, who had stood by his side for years.

"Harry…" Neville said quietly "I—I thought you were better than this."

That blow hit him in the chest, and hurt worse than Hermione's anger or Ron's rage, or even Ginny's sadness.

The fact that people thought he was a better person, and he _tried_ to be a _better person_ , but he just wasn't a better person.

He was a mess of a person who just ruined his, and his true love's, life.

He was a failure.

Harry's expression contained all his sorrow.

"I was under the influence of a love potion. But that's no excuse."

This declaration made Ron hesitate for a moment.

He had once been under the influence of a love potion and has hated the very concept of one since.

However, that didn't ease the pain. It didn't have Harry immediately regain his trust, and Harry knew it wouldn't.

But he still had to tell him, he had to make sure Ron knew all the facts.

"But you should have seen the difference Harry." he said. "When the love potion told me I loved Romilda Vane, in my heart and mind, she was nothing to the girl I loved." he said.

"She was nothing compared to Hermione."

Ron paused, looking sadly thoughtful.

"Unless you never really loved Ginny." Ron said, his eyes taking on an angry fire.

Harry immediately recoiled at the very idea.

 _Me? Not love Ginny? I know it seems that way, but—How could Ron even—How could he himself even just—no._

"NO!" Harry exclaimed.

 _They need to know that I loved her._

"I loved her, she was everything to me, but…" he trailed off, having no proper excuse, no good reason why, why he did this, why he couldn't—no, _didn't_ resist.

"So that was what my sister was." Ron said cruelly. "A plaything to you? Of course." He shook his head as he came to the conclusion that Harry really was the famous, rich boy he had feared. "The _Great Chosen One_ had the choice of anyone, why chose a insignificant little Weasley girl?" The tone of his voice rose, mocking Harry.

"You might wonder why we are mad at you and not Cedric." Neville added. "We never knew Cedric, he wasn't close to us. He always liked you, we knew that. But you Harry? We knew you enough to trust you." His eyes were sad. "Maybe what we knew wasn't ever true. The Chosen One has his own agenda."

Harry reeled back.

"Wait, no! I would never—I _could_ never—!" he said, desperate to show them he really cared.

But it was too late.

Neville released Ron, although Ron made no move to hit Harry. He just shook his head, and sighed.

"I'm going to try to talk to Ginny and make sure she's alright because I _actually_ care about her."

He walked to the door and closed it, more like slam it gently.

Neville looked back unhappily one more time, and went to follow Ron quietly.

Harry looked up, deep in remorse and guilty for his actions.

There was no way he could sleep after all this.

He got up, and grabbed his wand, with one safe haven in mind: The Room of Requirement.

* * *

Harry walked by the door three time before it appeared.

He opened the door to see a beautifully deserted room, of graying pictures and textbooks and dust with a pensive in the center. Memories were left here.

He walked to the pensive and stared into the silky depths.

He took out his wand and gently touched the tip to his head.

The silky memory was drawn out and he carefully dipped it into the water, watching it swirl and form an looking glass into his memories.

He looked down quietly and soft music began to play, and he sang along, looking at the pensive with his downcast eyes.

"In the eye of the hurricane, there is quiet, for just a moment, a yellow sky."

He looked up at the twilighting sky from out the window.

Curfew was beginning soon, but that was the least of his problems. He sighed then leaned forward allowing the magically waters of the pensive consume him as he fell, fell into his past memories trying to see where it all went wrong.

 _Best to start from the beginning._

Eventually the falling stopped as he stood in his room, but he wasn't at Privet Drive.

 _So this is my old room…_

Harry was standing in his nursery when he was only a baby, probably only a few minutes before Voldemort arrived and ruined his life.

Suddenly he heard a giggle.

He turned around to see….

 _Mom? Dad?_

His parents were on the floor smiling down at what Harry assumed was him as a baby.

" _Harry! Harry come to Mommy!"_ Lily said reaching for little Harry as he tried to walk.

" _No Harry. Come to daddy!"_ James said imitating Lily's voice as he reached for the child.

Harry stood in the background watching the joyful scene play out.

He had a watery smile as one tear fell down his face.

Then he resumed singing.

"When I was just a newborn, the Dark Lord killed my parents, but he couldn't kill me. I couldn't seem to die." he sang quietly,he saw Lily and James trying to protect him as Voldemort suddenly entered the room.

He heard his father fall to the floor outside the door and heard his mother's scream as she placed herself in front of Harry taking the blast of the killing spell. He turned away seeing the flash of green light. He closed his eyes in pain, taking deep breaths to calm himself before he sand the next verse.

"I found my way out… " he sang thoughtfully of the Dursleys as the scene around him dissolved to show inside the house on Privet Drive.

"Got Hogwarts letters from every place the eye could see…" He chuckled a little, seeing the flood of letters coming in a few days before his eleventh birthday.

"I found my way out…" he sang as the scene changed to a few days later in the small hut on the island during the storm. He saw Hagrid bursting in to see little Harry, and bring him back to Hogwarts.

"Looked up and the world had its eyes on meee…" he sang as he was taken back to when he had been greeted in Hogsmeade as the Chosen One, the only one who had escaped the Killing Curse, and entered a new world of Quidditch and magic wands, castles and lessons on the magic that lived around him.

"They passed butterbeer around…" he sang, now revisiting his first trip to Three Broomsticks.

"Total strangers, moved to kindness by my story…"

"Gained enough for me to have passage on a train that was Hogwarts-bound…" he sang as he watched himself first seeing the vault of money left for him by his parents. Then he ran beside himself through the barrier to platform 9 3/4 before going off on a train to his school, meeting Ron and Hermione for the first time, watching a Chocolate Frog leap out the window.

Then the scene changed back to him as a baby being dropped off by Dumbledore.

Then music picked up to a strong military drum beat as Harry slowly became more passionate as he sang remembering the trails of his youth.

"I Expelliarmused my way out of hell…" he saw Dumbledore set him on the Dursley's doorstep, Hagrid by his side.

"I Expelliarmused my way to revolution…" he saw Quirrel take off his turban to reveal Voldemort, and past Harry pulled out his wand.

"I was louder than a dragon's yell!"

"I met Ginny, and I told her how I felt!" he saw himself with Ginny, the day he had Expelliarmused Professor Umbridge, and started a fight, when he met her in a corridor.

"I protested against O.W.L.s and I defended my fellow students well!" he sang with his voice raising in volume as he witnessed him leading the group of students during "Stay Alive".

"And in the face of studying and the Dark Lord!" he sang, as the common room was a mess of O.W.L. studying and the Dark Lord's face was shown on the newspaper.

"I picked up a wand, I Expelliarmused my own deliverance!" He saw himself holding the wand that had Expelliarmused Umbridge in the middle of the mess, and smiled more. (Talk less, smile more. Sorry I had to do it.)

He paused thoughtfully, smiling softly.

"In the eye of the hurricane, there is quiet…" he sang once more.

"For just a moment… A yellow sky…"

"I was a child when my mother died, she was holding me, she was afraid, and she saved me.." he revisited the vision, where his mother threw herself in front of him, and fell as there was a green light, and a scream. Harry wiped back a tear, looking at the horrific scene.

"I couldn't seem to die." he said, watching as Voldemort tried to kill him, but instead fell and disappeared without a trace left.

An unknown voice began to sing "Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it…" in the background, and soon the whole school was singing "Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it, wait for it…" in the background, as Harry made his critical decision, reaching the climax of the song and his emotions.

"I'll find my way out… Write everything down as far as I can see…"

He climbed out of the Pensieve, the slanting moonlight falling through the window onto him causing his wet hair to glisten and sparkle in the moonlight.

He tumbled onto the dusty floor in the old forgotten room, and grabbed a paper, quill, and ink that appeared on the floor out of his necessity.

 _I need to prove myself to her and gain her trust back._

He grabbed it thankfully, and began to scribble down what he needed to say.

 _Dear Ginny,_

 _I know that you don't want to hear from me, but please finish reading this letter. I'm so sorry about what happened. I honestly have no feelings toward Cedric. I only love you and only you. I know that doesn't make much sense or seem believable from my recent actions, but it's true._

 _Cedric had fooled me into thinking I loved him. He had placed a love potion in my drink that day we finally got together in The Three Broomsticks. He went to such great measures to ruin us...and I let him. But I'm going to try my best to change that._

 _I know you may never forgive me for what I did and you need time. Honestly I can' blame you for what I did was more unforgivable then all three awful curses combined. If you would forget the memories we cannot change and give me another chance, at at least being your friend, or maybe more, I would be so thankful._

 _Hermione was right when she said you may have been one of the best things that ever happened to me. And Ron was right when he said even through a love potion, part of you can distinguish true feelings from fake ones, but I wasn't thinking. And maybe he was right when he said I didn't deserve you, maybe I don't._

 _But if you hear me out, that would be enough._

 _I want you to know I never meant to hurt you. I never meant to give in, never meant to ruin your happiness. There are so many things I never meant to do, and maybe my mistakes are, well, a million too many, and I should have never dragged you into the mess of a life I live._

 _I hope you will trust me again one day._

 _Yours now and forever more,_

 _Harry Potter_

 _(The ignorant "Chosen One" who has everything, but what he really wants.)_

Harry sighed, looking down at the note in the slanting moonlight coming through the window of the dark, forgotten room, kneeling in the dust, bent over the paper, reading, and rereading his confessions and apologies.

He picked up the paper, as if it were a fragile piece of china, and folded it carefully, and put it in his pocket.

He sang, softly, rising up to his feet slowly.

"I'll write my way out…."

"Overwhelm her with honesty…"

"This is the eye of the hurricane, this is the only way that I can protect her feelings…"

He walked out quietly, down the corridor, whispered "Quidditch" under his breath, and walked into the common room.

He quietly undid the spell protecting the girls dormitory, and set the letter by Ginny's bedside, only stopping to watch her peaceful face in the moonlight as she slept. (Look at him, pulling an Edward or Cedric. Really it can be either.)

Her red hair spilled over her pillow like a waterfall, and the silhouette of her eyelashes against her face made his breath catch for a moment.

 _This may be the only time I ever get to see her look so at peace._

Then he turned, and quietly snuck back out, redoing the spell, and heading back to his dormitory.

 **Well that's all for today. Hope you all liked that. XD It was a little fluffy, unlike the recent chapters, so I was so happy writing this. :) Maybe one day they will all sort out their problems! Who knows?**

 **Anyways, if you have any ideas, comments, or suggestions, you can put them in a review, and I always appreciate follows and favorites!**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **-RBU**


	16. The Letter

**Okay, hello everyone, this chapter is a content chapter, so no singing :( but still fun! :) How on earth are these poor characters gonna sort out their relationship problems? I feel so mean as a author. Oh well.** **If you don't hate me already, this chapter will make you hate me. Good luck and good reading! XD**

 **(Everyone POV)**

Hogwarts was practically buzzing with excitement for the upcoming Yule ball.

Students were so happy that O.W.L season was over and are very excited to be able to socialize. Well the girls were at least. The boys just wanted an excuse to avoid classes.

Girls suddenly avoided the entire male population like the plague and only travelled in groups. They started going to the bathroom more often giggling and coming out with a new makeovers.

The boys were miserable. The ball was going to be in only a few days and very few students had dates. Excluding the lucky few that were already in relationships.

Ginny hadn't left her room in three days, pacing around wondering what the crap she was going to do.

If it hadn't been for the letter…

If it hadn't been for the _letter_ …

Well, she probably would have gone with someone else, but…

The letter…

The letter from _him_...

She picked up the letter and read it for what seemed like the millionth time.

 _Dear Ginny,_

 _I know that you don't want to hear from me, but please finish reading this letter. I'm so sorry about what happened. I honestly have no feelings toward Cedric. I only love you and only you. I know that doesn't make much sense or seem believable from my recent actions, but it's true._

 _Cedric had fooled me into thinking I loved him. He had placed a love potion in my drink that day we finally got together in The Three Broomsticks. He went to such great measures to ruin us...and I let him. But I'm going to try my best to change that._

 _I know you may never forgive me for what I did and you need time. Honestly I can' blame you for what I did was more unforgivable then all three awful curses combined. If you would forget the memories we cannot change and give me another chance, at at least being your friend, or maybe more, I would be so thankful._

 _Hermione was right when she said you may have been one of the best things that ever happened to me. And Ron was right when he said even through a love potion, part of you can distinguish true feelings from fake ones, but I wasn't thinking. And maybe he was right when he said I didn't deserve you, maybe I don't._

 _But if you hear me out, that would be enough._

 _I want you to know I never meant to hurt you. I never meant to give in, never meant to ruin your happiness. There are so many things I never meant to do, and maybe my mistakes are, well, a million too many, and I should have never dragged you into the mess of a life I live._

 _I hope you will trust me again one day._

 _Yours now and forever more,_

 _Harry Potter_

 _(The ignorant "Chosen One" who has everything, but what he really wants.)_

Her eyebrows furrowed with thought, looking it over, and she sat down on her bed, and put her head on her hands.

 _Don't say it isn't true, that you weren't the monster that I knew._

 _(WHO CAUGHT THE DEH REFERENCE?!)_

* * *

(SWITCH)

Hermione frowned at the mirror, as she looked at her frizzy brown hair. She was entirely out of that magical hair potion TRESemmé stuff and she had no idea how to fix it, just like that last Winter's Ball.

 _Hmmmm…_

"Hermione!" Ginny called Hermione's name from the room.

Hermione stuck her head out the door of the dormitory bathroom to see what it was.

"Yes?"

Hermione immediately gave her friend her full attention. The past three days she had been absolutely miserable allowing only Hermione to talk to her. Hermione had promised to always be by her side (I had to make a Satisfied reference) and she wasn't going to stop now when her friend needed her.

Most of the time Ginny sat mute on her bed only making noise when sobbing and only moving to use the bathroom. Sometimes she would barely even eat.

Today was one of the better days. Ginny sat on her bed, a slightly crumpled and tearstained unassuming piece of parchment in her hands. She took in a long shuddering breath before continuing.

"I think you need to see this…"

A tear fell from Ginny's cheek and dropped on the paper. She looked entirely confused and overwhelmed with emotions Hermione couldn't discern from her eyes.

 _If Harry did something else to her…_

Hermione gritted her teeth, expecting the worst.

 _If he did…_

Oh, she would make him regret being born.

She walked over towards the bed, and sat down next to Ginny, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

She dropped her anger for a moment to seem more comforting to her depressed friend.

"What is it, Ginny?" she said softly.

Ginny opened her mouth, and then closed it, not trusting herself to speak without crying.

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows at this.

 _Oh no…_

"Um, is it, does it happen to be...something to do with Harry?"

Ginny looked at her as a shadow of despair passed over her face.

 _Oh that boy will feel pain so bad he'll beg for the avada kedavra curse._

Ginny looked down and sighed slowly handing the paper to Hermione, who stared down at the paper, bracing herself.

Ginny looked up at her through downcast eyelashes.

"Read it." she whispered.

 _What could it be? Did he try to get her back? Or maybe he doesn't even care and started going out with Cedric! Oh that better not be it. If so, I will hunt both of them done and—_

Hermione looked at her for a moment more, and then unfolded the paper.

 _What could it be? Did he try to get her back? Or maybe he doesn't even care and started going out with Cedric! Oh that better not be it. If so, I will hunt both of them done and—_

The curiosity was killing her so she read it, all of it.

Her breath caught when she finished.

"Ginny…"

"Yes?" Ginny asked, sharper than she intended to.

Hermione looked momentarily hurt.

"Sorry." Ginny mumbled, staring at the floor.

Hermione put an arm around her, for once at a loss for words.

They sat like that for a while.

"You know," Hermione said suddenly, detaching herself from Ginny, "Harry really did care about you." She almost felt surprised at herself. Was she _defending_ Harry?

Ginny said nothing.

"You meant a lot to him." Hermione continued, her mouth speaking of its own accord.

"Remember that time we went to Hogsmeade, and I caught you making moony eyes at Harry when he was in Honeydukes." she smirked.

Ginny laughed a little, although it sounded a bit broken, and elbowed Hermione in the gut.

"Uh uh, I was _admiring_ the chocolate _behind him_." she said.

" _Sure_ …" Hermione said doubtfully. "Well, when we all went to Three Broomsticks, he could never really take his eyes off of you. You know that, right?" she put her hand beneath Ginny's chin, raising her head up so she could look her in the eye.

"Well…" Ginny smiled, blushing and looking down at the floor. "I couldn't really take my eyes off of him either."

"You still have feelings for him, don't you?" Hermione said, Sirius **(we will make that pun often so get used to it, it's non stop** ) suddenly. She searched Ginny's eyes.

"For the worse or better." Ginny said truthfully.

Hermione sighed, and looked at the ground, her brilliant mind clearly at work **(WORK WORK MIND AT WORK GET IT?! Okay, I'm gonna shut up.)**

"You need to talk to him. Work this out. And if he was telling the truth… Then ask him." Hermione said.

Ginny stared at her wordlessly.

"To the Yule Ball."

"Are you crazy?" she said, Siriusly taken aback.

"Yes, I probably am..." she said looked down at her hands.

 _Only a moment ago I was read to torture the boy and now I'm defending him? Well I never did consider how he feels. It is hard to resist a love potion. Maybe I should take my own advice and give him a chance._

"Look, I know you have a hard time getting over this Cedric thing, but…." Hermione paused as if the words she were about to say pained her. "Cedric isn't a... bad person, and neither is Harry. And you can't be this miserable forever, Ginny."

It was true. Cedric had been avoiding Harry, Ginny, and Ron since the incident. He had also asked Hermione to apologize to Ginny for him (There was no way she'd let him get anywhere near her heartbroken friend) as well as Harry.

Hermione had disregarded it at the time, but he did sound sincere and has been less stalkerish than usual.

As Hermione thought more about it, she realized Harry _was_ hurting just as much, maybe even more since he also feels the guilt of betraying his friends. Whenever she had seen him in the hall she would turn away in disgust, but there always seemed to be tears in his tired eyes. Whenever he was in her class she noticed that snoring became a constant background noise.

 _He is struggling just like her, except he has no one to lean on._

"Neither can Harry. Every time he sees you shed a tear, it kills him inside. He can't stand this, he hates himself over what he did to you. You two can't avoid each other forever, it's about time, Ginny."

Ginny looked at her for a moment, then nodded. She gulped and looked at the floor, thinking over this.

There was a tense silence for a moment, neither girl knowing what to say.

Then Ginny spoke, to her own surprise.

"I know that… " she gulped "I feel _so_ much for him, and it's just— watching him kiss someone else made me _so_ angry inside."

As Ginny spoke her voice become louder as she expressed her anger and confusion.

"I thought somehow I wasn't _enough_ for him, clearly. But if what you say is true, that he never meant what he did and I _am_ the only one he wants, well that's more than what I have wanted for forever." She thought this over.

"That's my awesome Weasley kick butt friend." Hermione said affectionately, fluffing Ginny's red hair.

"Ah! Hey!" Ginny said, trying to smooth down her now frizzy hair. "I have been taking special care of this for the Yule Ball."

"Hmph." Hermione grinned. "Is that right? Or do you mean for Harryyyyyyy?" she added teasingly.

"Well." said Ginny. "Don't say I haven't seen you trying different hairstyles to impress my brother?"

"What?!" Hermione exclaimed "I mean, no! Of course not! Why would I— I don't care about my hair—just no!"

"Hmmm." said Ginny, with a self-satisfied smirk on her face. "I see."

Hermione grinned, rolling her eyes jokingly, but was secretly really happy her friend had finally starting moving in the right direction and smiling again. "Well then. I wish you good luck with Harry." she said, getting up to leave.

"Oh and Hermione?"

Said girl turned, "Yes?"

"TRESemmé works best with both the shampoo and conditioner." she said with a smirk.

Hermione blushed profusely.

"Shut up." she said trying to hide the slowly growing smile. She turned and left the room closing the door behind her.

* * *

(Cedric POV) **(Bet you didn't see that coming!)**

Cedric leaned against the wall of a corridor by the courtyard, looking down at his shoes, and pretty much regretting every life decision he has ever made.

 _Ugh._

 _How could I do something so, so, incredibly, daft?_

He hugged a textbook to his chest, and avoiding eye contact, something very out of character for him. Normally he would stare at students in the courtyard, knowing wayyy more about them than they do, and grinning. But now he felt too terrible to do anything, not even stalking.

Why had he thought this was a good idea? Why did he think this would work? That suddenly Harry would love him and Ginny could be a supportive ex wife.

 _They were never married…._ his subconscious came to correct him once more.

 _I'm not in the mood right now._

 _Well if you had listened to me we wouldn't be in this mess._

 _Yeah, I know._

Not only had he really hurt Harry, he hurt Ginny, he hurt Ron, he hurt Hermione…

Never mind how he knew all this. He just knew, because he was Cedric and he sparkled like an Edward **(I'm sorry we had to)**.

He sighed.

He had always been sort of Ginny's creepy but nice friend. Even though he had always been sort of jealous of her for obvious reasons, she was just such a likeable person. He had always admired the way that she was so tough but still so kind, and her sarcastic jokes never failed to make him laugh.

 _I never meant to be the villain._

 _I never meant to make anyone hurt like this._

He hung his head in shame, thinking about why, _why, WHY_ did he do this?

Suddenly, someone tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned around to see Hermione Granger.

For once he had nothing to say.

"Look...I...I…" he sighed "Look, I'm sorry. I'm just sorry."

Hermione looked at him curiously for a moment, the light of the courtyard playing interestingly across her face.

"You were never the villain of this story, Cedric." she said softly.

 _Woah she's psychic! I knew it!_ his subconscious randomly stated.

 _Shut up this is not the time!_

She pointed across the courtyard, to Ginny, her red hair shining in the sunlight. "There's Ginny. I think that _you_ have a few things to say to her."

She looked into his eyes with a commanding air of authority.

"Yes." he said, feeling ridiculously like a first year being scolded.

 _I guess that's just what I am. I sure do act like, one making reckless decisions._

He turned to walk over toward Ginny.

He hadn't seen her for the past few days which had made avoiding her much easier which made Cedric both relieved and even more guilty.

This was the first time he had seen her since the incident.

She was in a group of Gryffindor girls Cedric knew (only from watching, not social interaction) laughing over something Luna had said. She had her arms around herself dying with laughter.

 _Huh, she seems...happier now. Maybe she and Harry worked it out._

He turned, and surprisingly saw Harry walking through the courtyard, looking at Ginny, and smiling softly but with a hint of sadness and regret in his eyes.

 _Hmm, I guess not._

Cedric took a deep breath, and then turned to walk towards Ginny, as she waved good bye to Luna. Ginny turned around feeling someone's gaze on her, still grinning at whatever Luna had said.

She came face to face with Cedric. Her smile dropped a little but she didn't seem completely repulsed by his presence so that was something.

"Um." he said. "Look, I'm sorry and stuff, I guess I promise never to, um, do stuff with your boyfriend again, and you know." he said looking down as he shuffled his feet.

 _I'm horrible at this._

"What I mean to say is, uh, I always kinda had a crush on Harry since we met. I realize now it was more like admiration than a crush. I just— He was so very charming and kind. Most people are usually just afraid of me or call me a creep, but when we met….he didn't."

He paused to glance up at Ginny's face trying to see if he said anything wrong.

Her face was emotionless, he couldn't meet her eyes so he had no idea what she thought.

He quickly continued explaining himself before she blew up at him, or worse.

"I mean, I never really was in love with Harry, at least not like you. I just...idolized him. It soon grew into an obsession and I just wanted him all to myself. I never meant to hurt you. You were a good friend and I never considered how you would feel…"

Cedric paused and took a deep breath before looking Ginny in the eyes for the first time.

"I just wanted to say...I'm sorry. I'm _so very_ sorry for what I did to you and Harry."

His voice took on a pleading tone as tears started forming in his eyes.

"I— I understand if you don't forgive me. I just wanted you to know."

Ginny stood there staring at him for a moment, her eyes unreadable.

 _What was I thinking? She'll never forgive me. What I did was unforgivable. I should just go…_

Just when Cedric was about to go she suddenly stepped forward and put her arms around him.

"I'm sorry too." she said in his ear.

"For what?" he said, practically frozen in surprised at this. _I should be the one sorry!_

Ginny stepped back from the hug but still kept Cedric within arm distance.

A small smile graced her face.

"I'm sorry that I didn't see what you felt for Harry earlier, that I was so blind to your feelings, and that might have hurt you. I was your friend, and I was so wrapped up in my own drama to think that every day, seeing me with Harry must have been hurting you, and it's okay. I was stupid too."

Cedric swallowed back a knot in his throat.

"Thanks, I guess." he mumbled.

"And…" he continued "It's weird, I don't really feel anything for him anymore. I just…"

He released the hug, and turned across the courtyard to see Harry sitting against the brick wall, with a book in his hand, subtly looking up at Ginny, and turning away quickly when they both turned to look at him. Although it wasn't fast enough. Cedric grinned at this, and Ginny blushed.

"You know," he said "I think you have a date for the Yule Ball."

"Um." Ginny said, trying to obviously deflect this observation "No offense, but you aren't really my type."

"Nope, but Harry is." he grinned, his old stalker look back again, and winked.

"Well, maybe." Ginny shrugged, and walked off to talk to Harry.

Cedric smiled, in the sunlit courtyard, and sighed. What a perfect day.

"Excuse me. I need to get by..."

Someone tapped on his shoulder.

He turned around, and standing before him was a very pretty Asian girl with a large textbook clutched in her hands, and long shiny black hair past her shoulders.

She had the perfect brown eyes that shined when she smiled shyly.

"Um, hi. I'm Cho." she said, in a slightly shy voice.

He gaped. _I think I just got turned bi… Wait, hold up, don't stare, say something smooth, Cedric!_

All this happened in his head in a split second, too fast for anyone but a Ravenclaw to notice.

Cho smirked.

"Hey, I'm Cedric." he grinned. "I hear the Hufflepuff common room is a nice place to hang out, if you know what I mean." He winked, and her cheeks got slightly red, although only someone as perceptive as Cedric could notice.

"Well, I'll leave you to it." she smiled knowingly, and walked away to talk to a group of laughing Ravenclaw girls, who appeared to be fangirling, and brandishing a Hunger Games book.

Cedric grinned, and turned on his heel to go stalk some people.

And he thought this day couldn't get any better.

* * *

(SWITCH)

Harry sat against a brick wall of the castle outside, thinking over how he was going to survive this summer with the Dursleys. _Maybe I could hide in the bushes in front of their house all week, and pretend that I don't exist. And somehow get food through the owl network._

He fiddled with a piece of grass near his foot, and pulled it out of the ground, looking at it closely. He looked up, and there was… _Ginny?_

He dropped the piece of grass.

She walked up.

"Hi…" she smiled, looking at him. His heart leaped.

"Uh, hi?" he said it like more of a question as he tried to discern if she was still mad at him.

 _Why is she here? Does she forgive me? Did she see the note? What if she didn't!? It could have been mistaken for trash and thrown away! Or maybe she saw it was from me and torn it to pieces without reading what I had to say! But what if she did read it and doesn't believe me?! And now she's here to demand me to answer why I made up so many lies! Or maybe—_

"Uh Harry? Are you still with me?"

Harry snapped out of his frantic thoughts to see that Ginny had moved to be right in front of him.

He gulped nervously at her close proximity and shook his head to gather his wits.

"Uh, sorry I just, uh, was thinking about…."

 _Wait no. I can't tell her what I was thinking! I don't want to make her mad! Uh think of something Harry!_

"About?"

 _Crap I spaced out again!_

"Um...grass!"

 _Wow, very resourceful Harry._

Ginny raised an eyebrow at his random outburst.

"Uh, okay."

An uncomfortable silence fell the two teens, neither knowing how to address the situation.

"I'm—" Harry started.

"I've—" Ginny started at the same time.

They both paused and started chuckling at how awkward this was.

"Um, you go first." he said politely.

She smiled at this but shook her head.  
"No, no you go."

"No You I insi—"

"Look you've had plenty to say about the…. incident and I haven't been listening." Ginny cut him off suddenly serious.

Harry looked at her uncertain of what was going on.

"I haven't been completely fair to you, or Cedric for that matter."

 _Wait did she confront Cedric?! What did she say? What did HE say!? Oh if he ruined my, no our, relationship for good I will kill him!_

"So? What do you have to tell me?"

 _Crap, I need to stop doing that!_

"Um, right, yeah okay…"

 _Great now that she will accidently listen to the truthful explanation I come up blank._  
Thankfully Ginny seemed to realize this. She smiled in reassurance ad sat down next to him on the grass.

"Take your time, I'll be patient." she said her smile still intact.

Harry looked up at her uncertain then childish asked, "Promise?"

Ginny chuckled gently at his shy demeanor, "Yes, I promise not to run off this time."

Harry took a deep breath.

"Okay… well I guess I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

 _Really? That's the best you've got? "I'm sorry for cheating on you on accident with a creepy older guy, are we good now" is what you're going for?_

 _I panicked okay!_

"Are you going to continue or…?"

 _Crap! Why do I keep spacing out!?_

"I don't know you tell me."

Harry blushed.

 _Crap did I say that out loud?_

"Yes you did."

He blushed even more.

"Uh, sorry I'm just…"

"Uneasy with guilt."

 _Ouch, I guess she hasn't completely forgiven me yet. I mean, I wouldn't forgive her right off the bat if the situation was switched._

"Um, yeah" he said rubbing the back of his neck shyly.

He looked to his left to see Ginny blush lightly.

"Sorry, I'm trying to be more understanding but it's...hard."

Harry nodded his head not sure what to say next.

"Well I guess I'll just start off by explaining what happened."

Ginny nodded stiffly as the conversation became more serious.

"Well this is what happened…"

"It all started after that time at The Three Broomsticks when we—"

"Had our first kiss…" Ginny said finishing his sentence in a whisper.

Harry turned to look at her to see if it was okay to continue.

She was looking at her hands with her face hidden behind her hair.

He cleared his throat and continued.

"Yeah, um, I started hearing voices in my head telling me to notice Cedric. I was just ignoring it at first but then after quidditch practice we decided to have lunch together... but just as friends!"

He added quickly before Ginny thought he agreed to go out on a date.

"Then we went to the Gryffindor common room to study for O.W.L.s and he said he knew something about the egg."

"The golden egg? For the Triwizard tournament?"

"Yeah, so I asked about it and he said we had to go to the bathroom because it had something to do with being underwater."

"So you went to the bathroom, after hours, alone, with him."

"...Yeah"

" _Why?_ " she asked with a pleading tone.

Harry shrugged helplessly. **(He was down for the count and drownin' in 'em! Sorry you can continue reading.)**

"I don't know! I just wasn't thinking. It was like my body wasn't under my control anymore. My mind was taken over by a weird bubbly female voice that was controlling my every move. I didn't even realize it was happening until it was too late."

Harry went on rambling trying his best to explain his actions.

Eventually Ginny interrupted him.

"Okay! I get it. Can you please finish with the story."

Harry blushed at his rambling.

"Uh, yeah, um sorry."

"It's alright just... please continue."

Harry smiled slightly and was relieved to see it returned.

"So we snuck off to the prefects bathroom.

Once we got there I tried to ask why exactly we had to be underwater but he only gave me vague answers. So I waited."

Ginny nodded along carefully digesting the new information.

"Then for some reason I started blushing a lot and feeling nervous. I didn't realize it at the time but it was a side effect of the love potion—"

"Love potion? So he drugged you?"

Harry shrugged.

"I guess you can look at it that way."

Ginny frowned as she thought this over.

 _Please believe me._

"So you were under influence and had no control over your actions? You're judgement was affected?"

Harry squirmed uncomfortably.

"Well, yes and… no."

Ginny raised an eyebrow but didn't comment as she waited for him to elaborate.

Harry thankful took the hint and quickly explained.

"My brain was slowly being taken over by the female voice I previously mentioned. I was arguing and trying to fight her but eventually I gave in to the temptation."

Harry's voice ended in a whisper as he looked down at his hands ashamed.

He was too afraid to look but he felt Ginny tense next to him.

"So…you," she paused as she struggled to get the next words out.

"You...kissed him."

Harry's head whipped to look at her as he immediately backtracked.

"NO! I mean, I didn't make the first move. _He_ kissed me."

He felt Ginny relax a tad but then become stiff once more.

"But you didn't try to push him away, did you?"

Harry was silent in his guilt as he once again avoided her eyes.

" _Didn't you?"_

Harry sighed in defeat and nodded feebly.

"...Yes...I didn't stop him."

"I _should_ have, I _could_ have but...I was ignorant and weak. I made the biggest mistake in my life and lost the one person I care for the most. And all because of an _amateur_ made love potion."

It was quiet as Harry sat in deep guilt and self ridicule and Ginny sat next to him trying to digest the information.

 _I'm such a fool. I've ruined one of the best relationships I've ever had before it even had time to grow. And I don't ever think I will find someone better than Ginny. Oh why did I have to be so weak. Now I've lost her and my two best friends. I'm all alone…._

"You haven't lost me."

Harry looked up so fast he almost broken his neck.

He gaped at her in shock, not sure whether to have hope or forget about ever gaining her trust back.

Ginny smiled gently.

"At least, not yet."

Harry still couldn't form an appropriate response and just sat frozen in place.

Them he blurted put the first thing that came to mind.

"WillyoupleasebemydatetotheYuleBall?"

(Will you please be my date to the Yule Ball?)

Ginny was taken aback and took a moment to comprehend what he just said.

When she finally did, she went pale and looked anywhere but at Harry.

"Uhhh…."

 **And done! MWAHAHAHA!**

 **AHAHAHAHAHAHAH I told you that you would hate me for this. CLIFFHANGER you will just have to wait for it and see what happens. Ooooookay, well follow and favorite and whatever else, and reviews and stuff of course. Bye!**


	17. Wait For It

**Hello to whoever happens to still be reading this story! Sorry for the lack of updates, me and PJOandHP4life have actually been writing, but I constantly forget to update. Oops.**

 **This chapter actually has a lot of HAMILTON stuff in it (and of course, more importantly, LAFAYETTE stuff) and a great deal of Hinny.**

(Ginny POV)

"Uhhh…."

 _What should I do?! I'm trying to forgive him, but it still hurts that he betrayed me. Then again he just said he had no choice in the matter...But am I ready to be in a relationship with him again? There are so many people that would kill to be dating the great "Chosen One" so I have a lot of competition. What if someone else tries a love potion and I get hurt all over again? But if I don't accept maybe someone else will take advantage of the situation and take him away from me! Oh, I'm so indecisive!_ **(From crisis to crisis…)**

"So?"

 _I am not throwing away my shot…_

 _I am not throwing away my shot…_

 _Hey yo I'm just like my country I'm young scrappy and hungry…_

"I'm going with Dean."

 **(Didn't expect that did ya? Okay continue.)**

 _Wait. WHAT DID I JUST SAY?!_

Harry stared at her in shock once more as his body reacted before he even understood what she said.

"Um, Dean, uh, you're t-together—wait no back together a-again—b-but he said—wait what?!"

 _That's exactly what I'm thinking. Well it's too late to backtrack now._

"Uh yeah."

 _Wow, very eloquent._

"Oh…. so you're back together?"

Harry struggled to get the words out and searched her eyes to see if this was true.

Ginny looked at him as she tried to decide what to say before her lie grew.

"Um not exactly he's just my date for the Yule Ball."

 _Crap did I just say date? He's going to take that the wrong way! Oh what have I gotten myself into…_

"Oh." Harry said.

 _Tell him we're just friends before it's too late!_

"We're just friends so…"

"Oh, you don't want to try for what we had? Wait what am i saying? What I did was unforgivable. I shouldn't expect you to still care for me the same way…"

 _What? No! That's not what I meant! I mean Dean and I are just friends!_

Before she could voice her thoughts, however, Harr suddenly stood up.

"Well I hope you two have fun I guess."

Ginny scrambled to her feet and tried to grab his arm, but he shook her off.

"No! Harry, wait! Let me ex—"

"It's alright Ginny. I don't need your sympathy." he snapped.

 _No! You've got it all wrong!_

"But—"

"Bye Ginny." he said with raw emotion barely disguised in his voice.

Then he ran off, and Ginny could have sworn she saw him wipe tears away from his eyes.

 _Oh no…_

* * *

(Cho POV) **(Didn't think she'd be important did you?)**

 _I can't believe he talked to me!_

Cho had been bursting with happiness inside since she bumped into Cedric earlier on her way to class.

 _He's just as charming as I imagined! And he's even more handsome up close! What I would do to have him ask me to the Yule Ball…_

As she was daydreaming about dancing with Cedric at the ball, she accidentally ran into someone.

"Ow!" an unknown voice exclaimed.

"Oh my! I'm so sorry! I didn't see you!"

"No, it's alright. I wasn't looking where I was going."

Cho looked up at that voice.

 _I know that voice… It couldn't be…_

"Harry Potter?"

The boy looked up at his name and Cho came face to face with a pair of bright green eyes.

Harry frowned at this before his face cleared as if came came to a sudden realization.

 _He probably was wondering why I knew his name. Then remembered how famous he was._

"Uh yeah. I'm sorry, but you are…?"

Cho straightened her posture and painted on a polite smile as she stuck out her right hand.

"Cho Chang."

Harry returned the smile although there was a deep sadness in his eyes.

"Nice to meet you Cho."

Then they just stood there in a slightly uncomfortable silence, neither sure what to do next.

 _Wait I have a class in 2 minutes!_

"Um sorry, but I've got to get to class or I'll be late!"

She walked around him and started to fast walk as if her life depended on it.

 _Cedric, Cedric, Cedric…._

 _Oh how I would love if he were to ask me to the dance….but he doesn't seem that interested in me, and there is no way I'm making the first move!_ **(Girls, don't be like Cho. If you want the guy, MAKE A MOVE! Okay that covered my inspirational advice for the day. Enjoy.)**

 _Hmm…_

 _I need a way to get his attention, but how?_

As she navigated the crowded halls of Hogwarts, her eyes widened as an idea popped into her head, and she smirked.

 _Huh. What about that._

Being a pretty Ravenclaw who has done plenty of dating in her time, she knew exactly how to play games. How to make Cedric jealous.

She broke into a smile, imagining Cedric's smile, and fell into a fantasy of kissing him romantically in a mud-stained cave in the forest as she saved him from their bloodthirsty enemies **(BEHOLD THE FEMINISM)** and the Capital, clutching her Hunger Games book to her chest.

She was about to put her plan into action, but just then the clock tower hit 12 o'clock.

 _Crap! I'm about to be late to Class! I'll just have to put my plan into action later._

She dutifully speed walked as fast as she could, down into the Potions dungeon.

* * *

Ron sat in Potions class, his mess of red hair a contrast against the dreary dungeon, as Snape prowled the tables with his cloak flapping with his every movement. Ron was sitting at a long dark table, with a small chunk of unicorn horn, a bit of mermaid hair, some Mandrake root. There were also a few purple leaves that seemed to be making hissing noises, and extruding a strange black liquid that was now dripping onto the floor. His cauldron was now emitting a yellow gas that smells of rotten eggs, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. He was never good at Potions anyways.

As strange as this was, he barely noticed. He was looking at a depressed Harry with an expression of undisguised concern.

He had been furious with his"best" friend at first for betraying his trust and hurting his little sister. Then Hermione came to him and explained the situation. Apparently, he had been given a love potion by no other than Cedric Diggory.

 _I always knew that guy was suspicious...I just never thought that he'd go for Harry._

Ron had his fair experience with love potions and knew that they could make a person do and/or think some crazy things. So he was trying to forgive Harry, Hermione had told him that Ginny was doing the same, but it was difficult.

Now, Harry has looked miserable since "The Diggory Potion" affair **(AKA Reynolds affair)**. Today, however, he seemed especially disclosed and depressed.

"Harry…" he said quietly, "Harry, mate, are you alright?"

He turned towards Ron slightly, and looked up at him through his mop of black hair, and raised his eyebrows in a _ya-think?_ Expression.

"Harry, you know Ginny likes you anyways, right? She's always liked you and she's not gonna stop now." he said, as quietly as he could, while turning the spoon in his potion, as if he knew what he was doing.

Harry looked at him for a long second.

"No. No, she doesn't." he said.

Ron looked at him, confused.

"She is going... to the Yule Ball... with _Dean_." he said, sighing.

Ron looked at him in disbelief, not noticing that his potion was turning yellow, and setting his homework on fire behind him.

"Bloody hell…" he mumbled to Harry in sympathy.

Harry nodded softly, and then his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, looking at something behind Ron.

"Ron!" he said in alarm.

"Huh? What?" he said cluelessly.

Hermione rolled her eyes in exasperation from across the room, and mumbled a "Aguamenti," and a jet of pure water shot out her wand to put out the fire on his paper. The paper was thankfully spared, if not a little charred and damp. She then performed a complicated wave and the paper became dry from a sudden jet of warm air.

Ron turned around, and looked at his homework, not noticing any of the spell casting that had occurred to save his work.

"Bloody hell. It's like charcoal." he said in wonder, seeing a corner crumpled. "It looks like it got set on fire. How'd this happen?"

Harry and Hermione exchanged a look, the same thought was going through both of their minds.

 _Why am I friends with him again?_ **(Everyone has had this thought about someone at some point. *cough* RainbowBarfingUnicorn *cough*) (You never forget to remind me. XD)**

Snape observed the entire ordeal from afar, doing nothing to help.

"You Ronald Weasley, must be the most ignorant student I have ever had the nightmare to teach. 10 points from Gryffindor." he said in his long drawl.

The other Gryffindors in the room sighed and glared at Ron.

Seamus Finnigan clapped his hand on Ron's shoulder from behind him with a sympathetic look on his face.

"I feel your pain, mate."

* * *

(Harry POV)

"Okay everyone remember that I expect your essays on the Theory of Transfiguration by tomorrow morning! Class dismissed!"

The noise of chairs being pushed back was heard as the students prepared to go to the Great Hall for lunch.

Harry collected his books and put his wand in his Hogwarts robes pocket.

Ron waved as he left to go meet up with Hermione after her Ancient Ruins class.

Apparently Hermione was "going absolutely bonkers," as Ron referred to her actions, about the Yule Ball. Apparently she was on the set up committee, how she found time for that Harry would never know, and needed to be a perfect example for their peers.

She had been badgering Ron to get his dress robes fitted this week.

So Harry left class, and headed down to his dormitory to figure out his date to the Yule Ball. _Clearly,_ he couldn't go with Ginny, and he couldn't just go alone while Ginny went off with some other guy. He felt a spark of jealousy in his chest for Dean as he turned left down into another corridor.

Then the next thing he knew he was on the stone floor with his bag of books out next to him in disarray. **(Alexander was on Washington's doorstep in distress and disarray...okay I'll stop.)**

"Oh my! I'm so sorry! I was in a rush and—wait, Harry? Is that you? Just the guy I was looking for!"

Harry looked up at the second person who he bumped into today.

He was surprised to see it was the same girl as last time.

"Oh, uh no problem. You're Cho right? Cho Chang?"

The Asian girl above him smiled at being recognized.

"Um, yeah." she said, with a practiced shy smile that made Harry gape at her. She was _pretty._

She paused a moment, but as Harry was obviously not going to say anything, she continued. "Sooooo… I was looking for a date to the Yule Ball, and well," she smiled "What do you think?" She mentally cursed herself for not wording that better, but didn't let it show.

Harry finally snapped out of his daze, and mumbled "Um,"

 _What should I say? I don't want to go with anyone but Ginny...but she doesn't seem to feel the same way. You know what? I'll go with Cho! Who needs Ginny!_

Harry set a determined look on his face and looked at the pretty girl in front of him.

"Yeah, sure."

He grinned trying his best to put all thoughts of Ginny out of his mind.

"Okay." she said, and with another smile, she turned and headed back to her common room.

* * *

(Ginny POV)

Little did Harry know, just back at his common room, more drama was happening. **(You didn't think there was gonna be any more did you? Wishful thinking.)**

"Look, I didn't _mean_ to!" Ginny exclaimed, at Dean, who was wringing his hands in frustration as he paced the well-furnished Gryffindor common room floor.

"It doesn't matter if you didn't mean to! Can't you see, I literally went through like two years trying to get you two to realize your feelings for each other, and now it's a mess! Other couples I have matchmade don't turn out like this… I don't know what I did wrong…" He put his head in his hands. Ginny sighed, seeing how strangely affected he was by this tear in her relationship.

"Dean, you know it's not your fault. Harry, Cedric, and I have really made a mess of things, but you haven't."

Dean sighed and sat down on one of the comfy couches.

"I don't know what to do Ginny...You guys were Hinny! My OTP!" Dean said making grand hand gestures.

"Um, sorry about that…" Ginny replied not exactly sure what he meant by the phrases "Hinny" and "OTP."

She sat down next to him, awkwardly placing a comforting arm around her ex boyfriend's shoulders.

After a few minutes of Dean mumbling strange things like "Oh the feels!" and "Why can't my ship set sail without a shipwreck!" Dean suddenly stood up, startling Ginny.

"I've got it!"

Ginny frowned at this sudden outburst.

"You've got what?"

He turned around to face her and she noticed the wide grin that was now spread across his once distressed features.

"I know how to fix your relationship!"

This sentence made Ginny spring up in excitement.

"How?!"

Dean smiled a smile that made Ginny more wary of following his plan.

"Well just a little game of jealous should do the trick. It always does."

Ginny was taken aback by his answer. She had expected something more along the lines of telling him the truth. In every romance book she's ever read, the friend always suggested the one that lied in the relationship to be honest.

After recomposing herself she shot him a confused look.

"Wouldn't just telling him the truth be simpler?"

Dean violently recoiled at the thought.

" _The truth?!_ That _never_ works!"

Ginny nodded hurriedly to avoid angering this odd version of Dean even further.

"So...what you're saying is, you want me to...lie?"

Dean shrugged innocently.

"Well not exactly 'lie' more like, trick him into believing that you've moved on to make him guilty and perform some grand romantic gesture to gain back your affections for the greater good of your relationship!" he said all in one sentence with an excited smile at the end.

Ginny blinked as she tried to taken in the flurry of words her dramatical ex just shot at her.

"Uh, okay. Are you sure that's a good idea?" she asked still hesitant to manipulate someone like that.

Dean just laughed at her hesitation as a smug smirk painted itself across his features. He moved to sit back down next to the confused girl, this time with him placing a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"Oh honey," he said shaking his head at her ignorance on the topic.

"How do you think you two got together in the first place?"

 _What does he mean by— Oh!_

Ginny's facial expression went from confused, to realization, to slight anger.

"Are you telling me that we were dating only to make Harry jealous so your so called 'ship' could 'set sail'?"

Dean smiled brightly as if he was her teacher and Ginny "the student" just answered the question correctly.

"Exactly! You are catching on so quickly!"

Ginny just shook her head at his antics.

 _Why are the people I hang out with so weird?_

"Okay, so we're doing this. What's our plan?"

Dean's smile widened further at her actually deciding to consider his plan.

"Well, It's basically going to be like when we were dating except we have to act more lovey-dovey."

"However, we can't act too in love or we won't be believable since you are still recovering from..the incident."

Ginny nodded along as he spoke, trying to soak up as much information as she could while trying to not flinch at the mention of….the incident.

"Also, you have to act a bit awkward around me since we just starting dating again and such. I'll make sure to act like the perfect overprotective boyfriend."

Ginny nodded again as she tried to plan how she would play her role.

"Okay...but what if people ask if we are couple?"

Dean frowned as he thought this over.

"Well, we should probably say that we aren't officially dating, but still act like we are."

A sudden unpleasant thought came to Ginny.

"Wait, do we have to...kiss?"

Dean actually shuddered at that.

"No, no, no! No kissing! It was hard enough when we were dating since it was opposing my feelings about my OTP. We can just hug, cuddle, and _maybe_ a kiss on the cheek here and there."

Ginny nodded along as a look of relief crossed her face.

 _Phew! I'm glad I don't have to worry about that. Even though I still feel slightly insulted._

Dean suddenly clapped his hands together loudly being Ginny's attention back to him.

"Now," he said smiling mischievously.

"We have to out your outfit!"

Ginny was unsure if she should trust Dean or not when it came to fashion.

Seeing the hesitant look once again graced her features Dean put a comforting hand over hers.

"Don't worry darling, I have a friend that's an upcoming tailor that would be glad to help."

Ginny was still hesitant, but nodded her consent.

Dean jumped up in glee.

"Wonderful! I'll write him now!"

The excited boy went off to his dormitory mumbling something about "Mulligan Tailors," leaving Ginny alone in the common room.

 _Well, I guess I should go find Hermione to let her in on the plan._

* * *

 **(Harry POV)**

 _Crap, what did I just agree to?_

Cho's smile brightened.

"Great! Come with me we need to choose our outfits NOW!"

She grabbed his hand as a maniac (or maybe Harry was just exaggerating) look on her face.

Next thing he knew they were rushing down the halls and there seemed to be a faint high pitched girl screaming in terror.

 _Oh wait that's me._

Some first year student were staring at them with great confusion as they raced (well Cho raced, Harry was being dragged to his death) down the halls.

The older students however just shrugged ad went about their day as if this strange behavior was the exact opposite.

Harry watched in horror as he was dragged, and made a sharp right, where he could have hit his head on the stone wall, and a left, and-

 _Maybe I should have said no to this?_ **(YOU SHOULD HAVE SAID NO TO A LOT OF THINGS HARRY, BUT IT'S TOO LATE NOW! Ehem, sorry.)** He wondered frantically, as he was dragged into the open sun, and they ran down the cobblestone path into Hogsmeade.

Eventually, Cho came to a sudden halt in front of a shop in Hogsmeade ( _When did we get in Hogsmeade?_ ) called "Mulligan Tailors: For Young Witches & Wizards that Want to Stay in Style!"

Harry noticed a discrete stable right next to it labeled "Herc's 'Lock Up Your Daughters and Horses' Horse Barn for all Horse Lovers" followed by a torrent of winky emojis, which stood out strangely from the dark old wood the barn was made of.

Harry didn't know what to think of this.

He turned to look at Cho, wondering if she had noticed this eccentric shop, but her eyes were steadily on his, gauging his reaction.

"Um…." he said intelligently.

"Don't worry, you'll love it!" she said brightly, as she whisked him into the shop.

 _I wondering what type of torture awaits me in this horrible place..._

Cho turned to look at him with excitement shining in her eyes.

As she saw the terrified look on his face she only giggled before dragging him along inside.

 _Holy crap...That's a lot of clothes...And pictures of horses?_

All around the two young wizards were completely surrounded by every type of cloak, robe, hat, scarf, shoes, dress robes, and dress imaginable in the wizard community.

"Whoa…" Harry breathed in awe, and slight terror, as he saw the rows upon rows of dress robes he would have to choose from.

Cho grinned.

"Yeah, it's great."

Harry also noticed the disturbing, or comforting it depend on how you look at it, amount of horse themed decorations.

"Um, what's with the—

"Oh, it's just, you know… Herc likes his horses." she said. She paused looked around the shop. "A lot."

"I… see…." Harry said not sure if he was comfortable meeting this "Herc" she spoke of.

Cho smirked. "I might be brilliant, but I am no tailor. Let's see what Herc can do for you."

They walked to the back of the store, where there was a normal desk, and a cash register.

...

And a horse.

No, really, a living, breathing horse.

Harry pinched himself to see if this was some sort of incredibly weird and strangely suggestive dream brought on by listening to Hamilton (more specifically, Herc's part in Aaron Burr, Sir).

Cho grinned, and bit down on her lip to keep from laughing. _Man, Gryffindors may be selfless, but they are also straight up clueless._

Suddenly, Ginny emerged from the back, followed by Dean, and a tall, muscular man in a My Little Pony t-shirt and a beanie.

Harry gasped as he caught sight of her.

 _Ginny._

Ginny wore a gorgeous light flowing salmon dress with a bedazzled bodice which sparkled in the light of the shop. Her usually messy ginger hair was up in an impeccably styled bun, with wisps of red catching the light and turning it to flames, and her eyes were a light brown, like a cinnamon roll. Brown eyes were so underrated, usually forgotten in the light of green and blue eyes, but hers had so much light and emotion. They seemed deeper, like you could get lost in them forever, full of light and mischief, while they could cloud over like a stormy day. They were more noticeable with her black eyeliner, light orange eyeshadow, and framed by long lashes that could blow Harry away with one blink.

Crap.

 _Crap._

 _Harry, YOU'RE STARING! SAY SOMETHING!_

"Uh…" Harry made an awkward high pitched sound before clearing his throat. "Um, hi?"

Dean turned away slightly, smiling.

 _Hmm…_ Cho thought. _He's not jealous. He doesn't really want Ginny, does he? Maybe he is after someone else too._

 _Huh._

 _That might just be the first vaguely intelligent thing I have ever seen a Gryffindor do._

She looked at him. He was in a dark suit that emphasized the color of his eyes and his hair.

He was actually quite good looking, although he wasn't exactly her type.

 _Whoever he's after, he has a good chance._

Cedric's face came up in her mind's eye.

 _I hope I have a good chance too._

All this went through her head in the blink of an eye, and she smiled wryly, and walked up to Dean.

"They're quite cute together, aren't they?" she said quietly as she subtly walked up to him, even though Harry wouldn't have noticed if she had yelled across the room.

"Yep." he grinned happily. "Hinny! It's my ship! My TOTAL OTP!" He squealed in glee, getting a weird look from Ginny who finally tore her suspicious eyes away from Cho.

Cho wondered if he had ceased to speak English, but continued anyways.

"You planned this, didn't you." she mumbled softly a smile pulling at her lips.

Dean only winked before he turned to talk to the tailor.

"Thank you so much for your help. These outfits are bloody fantastic!"

* * *

(Random bunch of Hamilton References are coming up. So if you are just reading this mainly for the plot, you can skip it.)

"You're totally welcome!" Herc said happily, and proceeded to stroke the horse's mane.

His eyes widened suddenly when his hand passed over something hard **(NOT LIKE THAT!)** , and he pulled a small squirming turtle out of the horse's mane **(See?)** with a raised eyebrow.

" _John Laurens_!" he said called out in an annoyed voice towards the back of the shop. "I _told_ you to keep Rainbow away from Twilight Sparkle! She's one of my absolute _favorites_!"

A freckled man with a curly ponytail stuck his face out of the back door that had a sign on it that said "Clothing Sketch Design," grinning as his boss whined.

"Aw, come on Herc! It's not that big of a deal, besides, Burr owes me some drinks for losing a bet he sided with Lee on. He just found a bar for us all to head to this afternoon! What about that?"

Herc facepalmed. "John, what did I tell you about letting Burr choose the bar? Remember how it turned out last time! Why don't you have someone with better taste, like, I dunno, Lafayette!"

A sudden memory of a baguette cafe flickered across his mind, and it seemed for Lauren's too, off his expression.

He sighed in exasperation.

"Just have Alex do it, please." he said in defeat.

A man with black hair in a ponytail like John's popped his head out of another door, and grinned.

"Got that!" he said, he was currently holding over 30 sheets of parchment and what looked like a black steaming drink. He nodded in acknowledgement to the confused young wizards before he turned to leave. The entire time he continued to write away with a fancy green quick quill.

A man with insanely fabulous black curly hair in a ponytail, and an amazing French aura just RADIATING off of him, turned and looked at Alex's essay. **(LAFAYETTE MY FRENCH CHILD MY LITTLE BAGUETTE AAAAAAAA YOU HAVE ENTERED MY STORY AND GRACED IT WITH YOUR PRESENCE I HAVE TEARS IN MY EYES THIS IS BEAUTIFUL. Sorry that was RainbowBarfingUnicorn having a fangirl attack. Look, PJOandHP4life, it's not like I can help it! LAF IS FABULOUS. I know just.. chill we are supposed to be writing. BUT THE FRENCHY FRY COMPELS MEEEEEEEEEEE!)**

"Merde. Mon ami, you are writing like you are running out of time. Isn't 51 pages enough?"

"NEVER!" replied Alex in a war cry.

"SHUT UP Y'ALL AND LET ME SLEEP!" came a grouchy voice from the back of the storage room.

Alex sighed. "Fine then."

Laf looked over.

"Someone please tell me why Jeff has an empty box of macaroni covered in cheese lying on his face?"

Herc squinted. "He is cradling one in his arms too."

Madison sat in a corner reading a book, and looked up at the box of mac held gently in Jefferson's arms.

 _I sure wish I were that box of macaroni right now._ **(Random Madison thought 'cause I have no idea where this is going.) (That was supposed to be a JeffMads moment, but after I typed it, it just sounded really weird. XD)**

He blushed bright red before mumbling "I dunno…", and reading farther into The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. **(I wonder what fried Babel fish tastes like. It's a valid question.)**

Herc sighed and after Dean graciously paid for their quite cheap outfits (due to a discount for the Yule Ball) and went into the back to clean up the mess Jefferson made.

(OKAY BACK TO THE ACTUAL PLOT)

* * *

(Let's just make this anyone's POV)

Cho managed to distract Harry from Ginny so they could go to the back to get their outfits fitted.

"Where is this Mulligan guy anyways?" Harry said.

"I think he is in the back. Let's go see." Cho said matter-of-factly, and opened the door just to get splattered with…

 _WHAT IS THAT?_

Mac and cheese flew pass Cho's face and landed directly on Harry's wizard robes. _They were new, too…_ he thought sadly.

Cho was still trying to come to terms with the food that just whizzed past her head.

 _I almost forgot how weird Herc's co-workers were…_ she thought.

She gaped in the direction the macaroni came from, looking back and forth between Harry and the once sleeping tall man.

 _Yet somehow she easily accepted the horse._ Harry thought eyeing the animal cautiously.

Before Cho could fully digest the cheese missile that passed in front of her, a deep voice was heard calling out from a back room.

"Come on back Cho! I already have your outfit design done! I hope you like it!"

Cho shook her head to gather her thoughts.

She cleared her throat before yelling back.

"Okay Herc! We'll be there in a second!"

She turned to Harry and smiled in excitement temporarily ignoring the mac and cheese.

"Time to go shopping!"

* * *

(Harry POV)

Eventually Harry escaped the tailor shop, but not without being dragged around by a clothes obsessed Ravenclaw, poked multiple times with a sewing needle, and having a horse constantly stare at him.

Now he was resting in his dormitory since he didn't have any homework.

 _No one told me school would be this stressful this school year. Then again, I never have an uneventful year at Hogwarts._

As he thought over what happened that week a picture of Ginny looking absolutely stunning in her dress for the Yule Ball flashed through his mind.

 _Hmm, I wish I could be the one to dance with her._

As he lay there on his bed alone in his dormitory, he slowly fell into a daydream of him and Ginny going to the ball together.

 _(_ _Daydream)_

 _We swayed to the music, lost in each other's eyes and far from the world around us._

" _Harry?"_

" _Yes Ginny?"_

 _She finally broke eye contact before he lifted her head up so she would look back into his eyes._

" _I...I think I'm falling in love with you. All over again."_

 _Harry smiled and started silently crying tears of joy to hear her say that, to hear her say she loved him, that she trusted him. After all he's done, he was finally forgiven."_

" _I know I love you Ginny. I never stopped."_

 _She smiled with dimples showing in her cheeks._

 _They both started to lean in at the same time, getting more lost in each other and_ _ー_

 _(End of daydream)_

"Harry! It's time for lunch!"

 _Darn it! I was so close._

He sighed as he forced himself up into a sitting position.

"Okay, I'll be down in a minute!"

He knew it was time to go eat, but he didn't feel like eating. He didn't feel like doing much of anything really.

Harry sighed once more as he got up and walked towards a mirror.

 _What should I do to win her heart? To show her I still care, that I will always care._

Then the piano music started along with the sound of clapping that echoed across the room.

"I used to write about Ginny every day….

I was distracting myself from the fact she was just a room away…"

He looked off into the distance as he remembered when he finally noticed Ginny always being right there. She was always just a room away, but he was too blind to realize that.

"Dean is at her side at all times, buying her new dresses to display." he frowned remembering Dean acting like the perfect boyfriend, buying her fancy things and staying by her side. Treating her with respect, earning her trust instead of letting it drip down the drain **(Anyone get there reference? I'm talking to all the Hamilton fans out there.)** like he did.

"But he can keep all his dresses, Ginny she's mine." he said this with a determined air.

 _I will win her back._

"Love doesn't discriminate,

Between the sinners and the saints

It takes, and it takes, and it takes,

And we keep loving anyway.

We laugh, and we cry, and we break, and we make our mistakes,

But if there's a reason he's by her side when I have to hide

Then I'm willing to wait for it…

I'm willing to wait for it."

As he sang his voice echoed giving the song more effect. His voice became more pensive as he went over his life experiences in his head.

"My Godfather was a carefree no good trickster."

 _(Sirius) Tricksta, tricksta, tricksta…_

Harry smiled slightly as he thought of the first time he got to talk to Sirius and get to know the true him and not some maniac that ministry had believed him to be. **(By the way, Sirius is alive in this story, we just can't kill him twice.)**

"But there are things that tricks can't getcha."

 _(Sirius) Getcha, getcha, getcha…_

He thought of Fred and George trying to get over the age line to enter the Triwizard Tournament and failing miserably.

Then he became Sirius once more as his thoughts turned to his parents. He remembered how everyone alway told him Lily was so smart, after complimenting his eyes of course, and how James was carefree yet held the commanding air of a leader.

"My mother was a genius."

 _(Lily) Genius!_

"My father commanded respect.

 _(James) Respect, respect!_

"When they died they left no instructions, just a legacy to protect."

Most people don't ever realize the amount of pressure Harry is constantly under. He

not only had amazing parents, but he also had the whole competition with Voldemort, the most powerful dark wizard of all, that he was forced into without any say in the matter.

"Death doesn't discriminate

Between the sinners and the saints

It takes, and it takes, and it takes…

And we keep living anyway.

We rise, and we fall, and we break, and we make our mistakes.

But if there's a reason I'm still alive when those that had loved me have died then I'm willing to wait for it."

 _(Everyone) Wait for it…_

"I'm willing to—

Wait for it."

It was silent for a moment, the music coming to a pause as Harry was lost in his head. Then it came back full force with the mysterious voices of his dead parents, Ginny, Ron, Hermione and even Sirius haunting him.

 _(Lily and James) Wait for it!_

 _(Ginny) Wait for it!_

 _(Hermione and Ron) Wait for it!_

 _(Sirius) Wait for it!_

"I am the one thing in life I can control!"

 _(Lily and James) Wait for it!_

 _(Ginny) Wait for it!_

 _(Hermione and Ron) Wait for it!_

 _(Sirius) Wait for it!_

"I am inimitable, I am an original!"

 _(Lily and James) Wait for it!_

 _(Ginny) Wait for it!_

 _(Hermione and Ron) Wait for it!_

 _(Sirius) Wait for it!_

"I'm not falling behind or running late!"

 _(Lily and James) Wait for it!_

 _(Ginny) Wait for it!_

 _(Hermione and Ron) Wait for it!_

 _(Sirius) Wait for it!_

"I'm not standing still I'm lying in wait!"

 _(Men) Wait!_

 _(Women) Wait!_

 _(Everyone) Wait!_

"Voldemort faces an endless uphill climb!"

 _(Men) Climb!_

 _(Women) Climb!_

 _(Everyone) Climb!_

"He has something to prove, he has nothing to lose!"

 _(Men) Lose!_

 _(Women) Lose!_

 _(Everyone) Lose!_ _Lose!_

"Voldemort's pace is relentless he wastes no time!"

 _(Men) Time!_

 _(Women) Time!_

 _(Everyone) Time!_

Harry paused as he thought over his current situation.

He came to the disturbing revelation that Voldemort faces something like this every day since he'd been born.

The music slowly reached a decrescendo as the song became more serious when Harry spoke about his fight against Voldemort.

"Is this what it's like in his robes…( _Or without a nose..._ )?"

Harry sang quietly in a whisper as he went over his words in his head.

"Voldemort doesn't hesitate…

He exhibits no restraint.

He takes, and he takes, and he takes…

And he keeps losing anyway."

Harry suddenly felt slightly guilty for always beating him, even though it was for the greater good.

He never got the chance to try and be satisfied.

Harry felt conflicted, and as he resumed singing his voice rose in volume along with the music in a great crescendo.

"He changes the game.

He plays and he raises the stakes,

And if there's a reason he always seems to die and I still survive, then dear Merlin—"

"I'm willing to wait for it!"

 _Wait for it_

 _Wait for…_

"I'm willing to wait for it."

It suddenly was silent for a moment after Harry sang his line. Then the music resumed even louder than before with significant passion as the song became more emotional.

" _Life doesn't discriminate! Between the sinners and the saints,_

 _It takes, and it takes, and it taaaaakes!"_

 _(And we keep living anyway.)_

 _We rise! And we faaall!_

 _(And we break and we make our mistakes.)_

 _And if there's a reason I'm still alive when so many have died!_

 _Then I'm willing to—"_

Harry paused as the emotion he felt became a bit too much to handle.

"Wait for it _._ "

 _(Women) Wait for it..._

 _(Men) Wait for it..._

" _Wait for it."_

 _(Women) Wait for it…._

 _(Men) Wait for it…._

 _(Women) Wait for it…._

 _(Men) Wait for it…._

 _(Women) Wait for it…._

 _(Men) Wait for it…._

 _(Women) Wait for it…._

 _(Men) Wait—_

 **(Once again, Hamilton belongs to Lin! I don't own any the songs! Please don't sue me!)**

 **Thanks for reading! (The next chapter will be posted imminently.)**


	18. The Room Where It Happens

**Last chapter before the Yule Ball...**

Professor McGonagall clapped her hands loudly to capture the students' attention. Immediately the chatter came to a stop and everyone, well almost everyone since Draco was snickering about something to Goyle, looked up and gave her their full attention.

"Alright class! Remember the Yule Ball is Friday, which means tomorrow! So I hope you all are ready! No homework! Class is dismissed!"

The class eagerly grabbed their backpacks, and idly made conversation on their way out of the classroom. Harry picked up his backpack, light against his shoulder, barely a shadow of O.W.L. seasons. He smiled softly at the thought, and then sighed.

"It's okay, mate." Ron said sympathetically, looking into his eyes trying to offer some sort of comfort to his friend.

"Yep." Harry said letting loose a breath, and wondering not for the first time how Ron and Hermione managed to somehow have no drama in their relationship. **(Ha, that's rich. The amount of times they argued in the series….)( Lol, and even in this fanfic, they are still really awkward, but that's what makes me ship Ronmione soooo hard.)**

 **Ronmione is my OTP!**

They turned into the bustling hallway.

Ron groaned beside Harry.

"Oh, bloody hell. It's starting…."

Harry frowned at his change in attitude.

"What do you mean?"

Ron looked to his poor oblivious friend and was about to answer when suddenly…

"EEEEEEE!"

 _Oh my ears are bleeding!_

Harry held his head in his arms, unprepared for the loud, horrible shriek.

 _Is someone dying?! What sort of horrible creature could make such a noise? That sound hurts more than Voldemort touching my scar!_

Ron, who was much more prepared, sighed as he pointed to the source of the noise.

Harry turned his head slowly, scared to see what made the fear inspiring noise.

"OMG! IT'S HARRY POTTER! I LOOOVE YOU! WILL YOU GO THE BALL WITH ME?!"

Harry blinked in surprise at the loud third year running towards him.

Another girl came out of nowhere and shoved her to the stone floor.

She turned around to smile innocently, although to Harry it looked more like a predator getting ready to pounce on its prey.

"No, you should go with me Harry. I'm much more mature." she said walking right over the poor girl's body that was currently not moving.

However, she was soon hit with a leg locker curse from her left and swiftly fell to the floor beside her own victim.

Harry turned to see another girl walking towards him, this one he had a few classes with.

"Hey Harry~" she said batting her eyelashes.

"Remember me? I'm Romilda Vane, we had a few classes together last year."

She said all of this while walking slowly towards him as if she was on a runway.

"I was wondering if you would like to, maybe…"

She was now right in front of him.

The girl bit her lip shyly looking down at her hands before her eyes fluttered back up to his face.

"Go to the Yule Ball with me?"

Harry gulped as he tried to move away but she had a firm grip on his collar.

"Uhhh….I… um."

He looked over her shoulder at Ron clearly conveying the message:

 _Please help me before she eats me!_

Ron wanted to still have a friend after today so he nodded and pulled out his wand.

He then whispered "Accio makeup."

Harry frowned at this.

 _I'm here about to die and he summons makeup?_

Ron noticed his conflicted expression and only winked with a small smile gracing his face before doing the unthinkable.

"FREE MAKEUP! DOES ANYONE NEED FREE MAKEUP FOR THE YULE BALL?"

Harry looked at him in shock as every girl within a mile radius ran towards his friend.

"WHERE IS IT?!" "ME!" "No me!" "Thank goodness! Hogsmeade is all out!" "I'll take five eyeshadows!" "I want cherry lipstick!"

Those were only a few phrases that reached Harry's ears before his friend was basically ripped to shreds before his own eyes.

He somehow popped his head out and yelled, "RUN HARRY! I'LL MAKE IT OUT OF THIS! SAVE YOURSELF!"

Harry didn't know what to do.

"No! I—I can't leave you!"

Ron just glared at him so fiercely Harry almost whimpered.

 _Wow, so that's where Ginny gets it from..._

"I SAID GO!"

Harry didn't need to be told again.

He ran as fast as his legs would take him until he ran out of breath and need to stop behind after turning his third corner.

As he caught his breath he noticed a familiar redhead walk down the hallway.

Ginny was laughing at something that Luna said, and Hermione grinned hard.

Harry lowered his gaze, and willed himself to be calm about this.

Neville randomly was walking by when he noticed Harry leaning against the wall staring off into the distance.

He went up to his friend with the intent of having a conversation on what happen to get him so out of breath.

"Hey Harry! Are you okay mate?"

Harry didn't answer, his eyes were transfixed on Ginny.

Neville frowned at the strange behavior and looked in the same direction as Harry to see what caught his undivided attention.

Neville saw Ginny, Luna , and Hermione walking along the corridor. He soon saw Ginny glance over in their direction, her smile left her face and was replaced with a wistful look just barely disguised. Hermione must have noticed as well since she elbowed her roughly before glancing back at the two boys. She grinned at her friend before whispering something in her ear.

"I think she still likes you…" Neville mumbled into his ear. **(Neville, you are so late.)**

Ginny made a mock-grossed-out face at Hermione.

"Maybe not…" Harry mumbled between gritted teeth.

Neville raised an eyebrow but said nothing, and they turned down the hallway.

(Quick Dean POV. Unexpected, right?)

"No way!" Dean exclaimed to Oliver Wood.

"Yeah, last game the Bulger whacked George in the face, and now we have to settle for his alternative." he said unhappily.

"Ouch, that sucks." Dean cringed.

"Yep." Oliver said, then looked both ways down the hallway as if to check if the coast was clear in a spy movie.

Apparently it was, because then he conspiratorially whispered into Dean's ear.

"How'd Operation Hinny go?"

Dean stifled a grin. Hinny was their code name for his match for Harry and Ginny, and the setup at Mulligan's was nicknamed that, an inside joke between them.

Dean leaned in, and whispered "They are so totally in love with each other. I managed to get the timing just right so Harry saw Ginny in the dress. You should have seen his face."

"Oh crud." Oliver facepalmed. "Man, this match might be hard, but it's definitely going to work out in the end. It's too adorable not to, and besides, you are the best matchmaker I know."

Dean laughed at this. "Dude, I'm the _only_ matchmaker you know."

"That just makes you better." he said.

"Well, thanks. I have got to head to Potions class now, so bye!"

"Bye!" Oliver waved.

Dean turned down the hallway that led to the Potion classroom. It was going to be so cold in the classroom, and he forgot to bring his jacket. He gulped, and instinctively drew his robes around himself tighter.

He made a turn, and _SMACK!_

He whirled around to see who he walked into.

A girl with thick curly brown hair tied back in a bandanna in a headband sort of fashion knelt down to picked her books up.

He hesitated for a moment.

 _Help her pick up her books, you idiot!_

He bit his lip hard, and picked up a _Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them_ textbook. **(If you haven't read it, and I'm hoping you did if any of you are Harry Potter fans, then you should read it sometime. It's good.)**

She finally looked up from where her books fell, and glanced into his face. Dean quickly avoided her gaze, suddenly shy. He did notice light brown eyes before he turned away. He coughed a little awkwardly, and handed her the textbook.

"Hey, thanks!" she said, smiling politely.

The girl had curly, long hazelnut hair framing a pale face. Her cheeks were lightly tinted red, probably from embarrassment due to the current situation. She was a wearing a black sweater with a white shirt collar and read and yellow tie peeking out from underneath her hair, meaning she was a Gryffindor. She had soft brown eyes that were now avoiding his the longer he stared at her.

 _Wow, she is pretty- AHEM I mean pretty cool heh._ Dean thought, amending his thought fast.

"Oh, you are a Chudley Cannons fan?" she said, gesturing to his t-shirt.

He looked down at his white t-shirt of his team, and cringed at the gigantic spaghetti stain across the front, and tried frantically to remember if he actually brushed his teeth this morning.

"Um, hello?" she said after he had just stared at his shirt for a while.

"Oh!" he exclaimed. "Yeah, they're going to compete next weekend!" He stifled a fangirl squeal.

"I know, right?" she said happily. "The Holyhead Harpies don't stand a chance at this point. We are _surrounded_ by Holyhead Harpies fans at this very moment." she said in disgust.

"Ew." Dean agreed.

"Well, see ya in last period! You're… Dean, right?" she said.

 **(Okay, so this is sort of a slightly out of character my-version of Lavender, so while she was kinda annoying and "won-won" obsessed in the series, she's gonna be pretty chill in this fanfic.)**

"Um yeah." he said surprised that she knew his name. She smiled softly before whisking off to her next class, leaving Dean dumbfounded in the hallway.

 _And I don't even know her name..._

Just then, the clock tower rang.

 _Crud, I'm gonna be late._ He thought rushing off to the dungeons, although he kept grinning anyways.

* * *

(Ginny POV)

Ginny sat in Herbology, her last day was nearly over! She sighed as her tired brown eyes surveyed the classroom, a greenhouse overflowing with magical plants of all shapes and sizes. It looked as if it were a set that came right out of _The Hobbit_ , the trays of plants artfully overflowing with cascading leaves and gorgeous flowers, some sentiently moving and watching them, giving off a sort of creep air around them.

Neville watched the teacher give a lecture with a fascination found nowhere else in the class. Ron was sleeping, like usual, and Dean appeared to be daydreaming with a rather silly grin on his face.

 _Hmm, I wonder what he's thinking about. I'll have to ask him later._

Ginny looked down at his Chudley Cannons shirt. Rumor has it that he hadn't washed that shirt in a month. That would explain the giant red stain on the front.

Not to mention, the Holyhead Harpies were _obviously_ better.

Luna was looking curiously through her nargle glasses, and Cho was smirking superiorly about...something.

Parvati Patil was talking to Lavender Brown about something, and suddenly a upbeat tune began to play in the background.

(Change to 3rd Person for the song)

"Oh hey, Miss Lavender!" she whispered much too loudly.

"Parvati, sure!"

"Did you hear the news about good old Cho Chang, Lavender?"

"Nah."

"You know Harry Potter?"

"Yep." _Is that even a question?_

"They're going together to the Yule Ball. Apparently they're a thing now girl!"

Ginny thought she saw Cedric's head peering curiously for some reason slightly horrified over through the window, but glanced again, and he was gone.

 _Weird._

"You're sure!?"

"And all after Hinny just died."

Ginny looked forward, confiddled. **(WHEEE Look I made a new word, guys!) (That was RainbowBarfingUnicorn not me.) (Heh.)** _What's a Hinny?_

At the word, Dean's ears perked, and he was listening in now.

Honestly, more people were listening to the two of them than to the teacher, who seemed not to notice.

"Yeah, this ship took a lot less work."

"We 'oughta give it a try." said Parvati with a shrug.

Dean, being the well known Hinny shipper, smirked at this.

"Ha."

Parvati turned to glare at him for a moment before resuming their conversation.

As she turned back to face her friend she noticed that Lavender was now glancing at Dean with a dreamy smile on her face.

Parvati obviously used this opportunity to tease her.

"So how're you gonna get Dean to rendezvous?" Parvati winked, and nudged Lavender in the side as she made meaningful looks between her friend and the boy.

"What? I mean, I guess I'm not sure I just understood you." Lavender said, a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Reaalllyyyyyy?" Parvati said, sarcasm dripping from her tone.

"Well, I mean…" she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

"Hmm?" her meddling friend said both eyebrows raised.

Dean now had his head in his arms, and Lavender saw a blush creeping down his neck.

Lavender was obviously lost on what to say so Parvati took matters into her own hands.

"Talk less," she said carefully giving advice to the oblivious girl.

"Smile more."

"Ha, ha" Lavender said, not really sure where this conversation was going anymore.

"Do whatever it takes to get Dean to join you on the ball dance floor."

"Now, Cedric and Cho are _just_ merciless." Parvati continued nodding approvingly to how well **(Yeah right.)** the two were starting their relationship.

"Well, hate the sin, love the sinners." Lavender said, smiling, as she shrugged thinking about how some girls hate the meddling process when it applies to themselves, but love the couple.

The bell rung, and class began to dismiss.

"Hey, uh, Lavender!" Dean said.

"Sorry Dean, I have got to go!"

"But—!"

"Decisions are happening over dinner."

The two girls strode out of the class walking back to the castle along with many other girls from the class.

* * *

(Male POV)

Several girls, from all the houses, and all the years now sat in the gryffindor dormitory lying on the beds eating food smuggled from the kitchens no doubt.

From the outside in the common room the boys just stared at the endless torrent of the female species running up the stairs and somehow fitting into the dormitories.

The music started up again, now with a strong brass section beginning with quick note. The music then settled into a soft jazz tune.

Dean walked up and he started to sing a narration of the events unfolding.

"A million witches and stolen dinner walk into a room—"

"Curiosity unopposed, who knows." The guys in the room spoke in unison as if this was on all of their minds.

"They emerge with big smiles, having open doors that were—"

"Previously closed, this blows." They spoke in unison again with a tinge of bitterness at the end.

Ron took over saying the next part.

"Some girls emerge with unimaginable excitement, ready to choose whoever they want." he said as some girls went straight up to the guys and asked them to go to the ball with them.

"The other girls emerge with broken noses…."

Neville said as he stared wide eyed as some girls walked out accompanied by their friends holding a red nose.

Harry walked up to joining the other two guys saying the next line.

"And here's the pièce de résistance."

The music beat picked up as they moved into the chorus of the song.

This time Ron was the one starting.

"No one else was in the room where it happened, the room where it happened, the room where it happened."

As he began to repeat what he sang the other guys soon joined him.

"No one else was in—"

"The room where it happened," everyone continued.

"The room where it happened," sang Dean.

"The room where it happened," everyone repeated.

"No one really knows—" Harry sang.

"How the game is played," everyone continued.

"The art of the trade," sang Neville.

"How the bacon gets made." everyone continued.

"We just—" Ron sang.

"Assume that it happens." everyone finished.

"But no one else is in the—" Harry, Ron, Dean and Neville sang.

"The room where it happens." They all finished.

The brass sounded again.

"Parvati claims!" The four boys sang in unison.

At the sound of her name Parvati is seen whispering to some guys that were absolutely desperate to know what happened in the girls dormitory.

"Lavender was on Cho Chang's bed today in distress and disarray."

"Parvati claims!" The four boys sang again in unison.

Parvati as retold the story Lavender joined in to tell her parts in the story.

"Lavender said—"

Lavender jumped in to say her part expressing her desperate emotions at that time.

"I've nowhere else to turn!"

Parvati butted back in as she continued her recount of what happened.

"And then she basically begged me to join the fray."

Lavender frowned and opened her mouth to try and refute what her friend just said.

"Parvati claims!" The four boys sang again in unison cutting her off.

"I approached Ginny and said I know you don't know her, but let's hear what she has to say."

"Parvati claims!" The four boys sang again in unison.

Parvati was nearing the end of what she would allow others to be know, she got pretty tired of the attention quickly.

"Well, I arranged the entire meeting." she said making everyone gasp as they learned this vital information about the "slumber party" last night.

"I arranged the menu, the venue, the seating." she said numbering off each one on her fingers as she referred to the food stolen and which dormitory was chosen for the discussion.

"But!" Dean said stealing her spotlight and getting a glare in response.

"No one else was in—"

"The room where it happened," everyone continued.

"The room where it happened, the room where it happened."

Then Neville took over singing, "No one else was in—"

"The room where it happened," everyone continued.

"The room where it happened, the room where it happened."

Harry took over singing "No one really knows how the—"

"Parties get to yessss." the others continued.

Ron continued singing, "The pieces that are sacrificed in—"

"Ev'ry game of chessss." everyone continued as Ron held up a game of wizarding chess.

"We just assume that it happens. But no one else was in—"

"The room where it happens."

All the four boys sang with the company backing them.

"Meanwhile—"

Dean walked up singing the next part gesturing towards Hermione frantically scanning through some magazines.

"Hermione is grappling with the fact that not every issue can be settled by the library…"

She sighed in frustration as she tossed the book to the side.

"Why can't fashion be more simple! It shouldn't be this hard to find a reasonable nice dress for Merlin's sake!"

Ron cautiously went over in an attempt to comfort her, but was beat to it by Ginny.

"Meanwhile—"

"Fifth years are fighting over which guy will be their date—"

He was interrupted by a group of girls running through heading towards poor Harry Potter.

He paled considerably and started to back up slowly look for a way out.

"Oh no...Not again."

"HE'S MINE!" three of them yelled at the same time as Harry ran for his life.

Dean sighed at the desperate girls trying to get a date the wrong way.

"It isn't pretty."

Neville stepped in to sing the next part.

"Then Dean approaches with a tailor and an invite,"

Dean is seen walking up to Cho with a Yule Ball invitation and a poster advertising Mulligan's Tailor shop.

"and Cho responds with Ravenclaw insight."

"Maybe we can solve one problem with another and win a victory for the shippers in other words…"

"Oh ho?"

"A quick pro-pro."

"I suppose."

"Wouldn't you like to get Hinny back together?

"Actually I would."

"Well propose fake dating."

"And he'll provide the clothes?" Dean said point big to a picture of Mulligan waving on the ad.

"Well, we'll see how it goes."

They shook hands, pleased with their plan.

"Let's go."

The two shook on it before Cho begins ascending the stairs followed by a group of anxious girls.

Harry cut in to sing the start of the chorus.

"No—"

"One else was in the room where it happened, the room where it happened, the room where it happened."

"No one else was in the room where it happened, the room where it happened, the room where it happened."

"Dear Merlin!"

"In him we trust, but we never really know what got discussed."

"Click Boom! And it happened."

"But no one else was in the room where it happened."

"Mister Cedric Diggory!"

"What did they say to you to get you to trick Harry Potter into being your lover!?"

"Mister Cedric Diggory!"

"Did Moaning Myrtle know about the potion, was there spiritual pressure to deliver!?"

"Mister Cedric Diggory!"

"Or did you know that even then it doesn't matter how you got to kiss Harry?"

"'Cause I'll have popularity. We're in the same spot."

"...You got more than you gave."

"And I wanted what I got. 'Cause when you've got skin in the game, you stay in the game. But you don't get a win unless you play in the game. Oh you get love for it, you get hate for it, but you get nothing if you…"

"Wait for it, wait for, wait."

"Merlin help and forgive me, but I wanna build a relationship that's gonna outlive me."

"What do you want Dean? What do you want Dean?"

"If you stand for shipping Dean, then who do you fall for?!"

Dean nervously glanced at Lavender before quickly regaining his composure to sing the next lines.

*Dramatic pause for effect*

*Dean looks around the room*

*clears throat*

*crowd hangs in suspense*

 **(SO SUSPENSEFUL WHEN SHALL IT HAPPEN I WONDER. That was not me guys, I'm not that dramatic. THAT WAS MEEEEEE - RainbowBarfingUnicorn)**

"I…."

"Wanna be in the room where it happens, the room where it happens."

"I…."

"Wanna be in the room where it happens, the room where it happens."

His voice picked up volume as he became more confident as he went along.

"I…."

"I wanna be in…. the room where it happens. I….. wanna be in the room."

As he continued to sing the others began to crowd, around, singing "Room where it happens" making the scene even more dramatic.

" _Oh, oh!_ I wanna be, I wanna be… I've got to be! _I've_ got to be in the room, the big ol' room." he sang expressively, his voice embodying his full desire as it filled the room. His voice rose majestically over the low steady chanting of the group.

He was actually a really, really good singer Ron noted. He could give Draco a run for his money. _Maybe._ It would be so cool to see the two of them have a singing battle.

"The art of the compromise!" chanted the group of schoolboys.

"Hold your nose and close your eyes…."

"We don't want our ships to sink away…."

"But we don't get a say in who leaves or stayyyyys…" sang Dean shooting a subtle glance at Harry before getting back into the song.

"We dream of a fairy tale heart…"

"But we dream in this dungeon for the most part…." said Ron, holding up a candle in the dark common room, dimly lit by the fire, which would normally be roaring like a lion, but was somehow muted by the musical song.

"Drama in the dark where it happens…"

"I've got to be in the roooooom….!" Dean exclaimed stretching the word room..

"I've got to be!"

"...the room where it happens." sang the other three boys.

"I've got to be!"

"...the room where it happens." they kept repeating in the background.

"Oh, I've got to be in the room where it happens!"

"I've got be, I've gotta be, I wanna be…!"

Dean took a dramatic pose as the song came to an end, a light shining on his face from his wand.

"In the ROOOOOOOOOOOOOM!" he sang with great passion.

"CLICK BOOM!" exclaimed Harry, as every boy in the room pointed their lit wands to the ceiling right as the song ended.

It was silent for a moment before Lavender started to clap enthusiastically, her eyes gazing at Dean in awe.

Soon the other girls started to joining her and the room was enveloped in applause.

The guys bowed at the adoring audience.

Hermione came up and and put an arm around her boyfriend.

"Nice singing Ronald."

He huffed at her saying his full name.

"Hermione! I've told you this a million times! Don't call me—"

She kissed him on the cheek.

Ron trailed off as his face exploded in a bright red blush.

Hermione smiled satisfied **(rhyme unintended, pun intended)** before sitting back down.

Ginny chuckled before high-fiving her friend.

Harry laughed at his friend patting him on the back.

"Good job Ronald." he said with a smirk.

If it was possible to be more red, Ron was.

"Sh-shuddup Harry."

Neville chuckled along with Harry before sitting next to the girls.

Dean was still standing in the same position. Eventually he put down his wand mumbling "nox" under his breath. He turned to glance at Lavender. He winked and smiled when he saw her ears turn red.

He went to sit next to Neville when Parvati walked up to him with a small smug smile gracing her features.

"So, you want to be in the room huh?"

Dean smiled and stepped a little closer to the girl in a sign of a challenge.

"Yes, yes I do. Do you think you can handle me in the room?"

Parvati raised an eyebrow and stepped forward keeping eye contact.

She then scanned her eyes up and down his body before landing on his face with a small "humpf."

"You think I'm frightened of you man? Your ship almost died in a ditch while you were off getting food with your friends."

His eyes flashed slightly in anger before glinting in apprehension.

"Touché mademoiselle." he said with a smirk before walking off.

Lavender quickly walked up to her friend desperate to hear what her crush said.

"What'd he say?! What'd _you say_?!" she asked desperate for information.

Parvati was still looking at where Dean walked off, deep in thought.

"You really like this guy don't you?"

Lavender blushed as she twirled a strand of hair between her fingers.

"Uh, yeah," she said turning to look at him laugh at something Neville said.

"Yeah, I do." she said smiling softly at him.

She looked back to see Parvati smiling softly at her friend as well.

"I approve."

Lavender took a moment to understand what she said before leaping up to hug her best friend.

"Thanks Par."

"No problem Lav."


	19. Breakfast Before the Yule Ball

**The Yule Ball chapter came out a little longer than planned, so now the chapter is broken up into three parts.**

 **This is the first part (the breakfast the day of the Yule Ball)!**

It was a calm Friday morning at Hogwarts as students filed into the Great Hall to enjoy a warm tasty breakfast prepared by the generous house elves working in the kitchens. Everyone was a bit groggy from staying up late preparing for the exciting events to transpire later tonight.

There was a slight buzz in the air as witches gossiped over how they would manage to do their makeup and wizards made jabs at each other about the other's overexcited dates.

A little after nine, Ron stumbled over to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Hermione.

He then promptly put down his head on a plate of food and fell asleep.

Hermione sighed in annoyance and nudged her sleeping **(Sorry excuse for a)** boyfriend.

"Ron? It's time to wake up…" she said trying to be gentle as she spoke softly.

He just groaned and turned away laying his head comfortably on his folded arms.

She sighed and looked to Harry, who just sat down across the table.

He looked to Ron in amusement before turning back to the annoyed girl in front of him.

"Yeah he was awake half the night. OWLs really wore him out."

Hermione smiled, sympathetic for the poor boy. She has never seen him study so hard for anything. He was really dedicated to get good scores. _I'm totally rubbing off on him._

She pet his ginger hair, that reminded her a little of crookshanks, as she enjoyed some toast, with the crust cut off of course, covered in marmalade and a cup of pumpkin juice.

"Poor baby… but he needs to eat so time for extreme measures." Harry cocked an eyebrow as Hermione leaned down to Ron's ear to whisper something.

"Ronald we're going shopping later if you don't w—"

They ginger sprung upright. His hair a mess of Cheerios and a piece of bacon stuck to his right cheek.

"I'm up! I'm up!" He said trying to straighten his appearance.

Hermione giggled as she took the bacon off his cheek. "I knew that would work."

Ron grumbled and cross his arms playing the perfect petulant child.

Harry chuckled at the couple's antics.

"Anyway, now that Ron is awake, you guys excited about the Yule Ball?"

Ron looked at her in alarm.

"Wait, that's today?!" he exclaimed with a look of fear seeping into his features

Hermione looked at him in astonishment.

"How could you forget! We've preparing for weeks!"

"I thought it was tomorrow!"

"No, it's today! Saturday is the big quidditch game between Slytherin and Gryffindor."

Now it was Harry's turn to look surprised and slightly scared.

"What?!"

Hermione turned to him. "Oh don't tell me you forgot about that too!"

"I thought it was Sunday!"  
"No! Sunday is the day we are supposed to get our O.W.L. results back."

"WHAT?!"

Hermione sighed in exasperation.

"Boys! You are so hopeless, practically helpless." she said before getting up to walk over to Ginny in hope of having civilized conversation with someone a bit more sane.

"Hey Ginny!"

Said girl looked up at the sound of her name to see Hermione walking towards. She waved her over with a welcoming smile. "Hey Hermione."

She scooted over while her best friend sat down beside her on the bench.

"So, did you get sick of my brother or Harry?" Ginny asked before eating a mouthful of corn flakes.

Hermione sighed looking back at the boys that were now arguing with each other about… something. "Both."

Ginny just gave a chuckle after she swallowed her food. "Figures."

"Anyway, what are you and Dean doing for the Yule Ball to make Harry jealous?"

Ginny immediately whipped her head around her face in shock.

"How did you know?!"

Hermione only chuckled.

"Sweetheart, one: it's pretty obvious you both still like each other and two: Dean would rather die than not try to save his OTP."

Ginny blushed in slight embarrassment but smiled nonetheless.

"Well, now that the cat's out of the bag…. Yeah we are going together and Dean suggested that we acted like a cliche cute couple to make Harry jealous."

Hermione hummed as she thought this over. "Okay, but why are you trying to make him jealous? He already is fawning over you."

Ginny shrugged, "I don't really know it's just… He asked me to the ball—" Hermione spit out her

pumpkin juice.

"He did _what_?!" Ginny reeled back at the unexpected outburst.

"Um yeah I don't know. I just—"

"Why did you say _no_!?" Hermione asked once again interrupting her explanation.

"I'm about to tell you!" Ginny whisper yelled as other Gryffindors were starting to notice, except Ron and Harry who were busy talking quidditch. "Now can you be a bit more quiet. I don't want all of Gryffindor knowing about my relationship problems!"

Just then Parvati walked by and overheard Ginny.

"Oh don't mind us honey. We already know _everything_. You're relationship drama is basically the main plot of the fanfiction right now."

Ginny frowned at the unfamiliar term. "Wait, what?"

Parvati just gave an innocent smile. "Oh nothing."

 **(Augh, they're breaking the fourth wall again! I need to learn to control these stupid characters.)**

Ginny still looked confused and opened her mouth to question her further when Hermione regained her focus. "Come one Ginny! Tell me!" she said shaking her arms in slight fangirl desperation.

"Okay! Well, I sort of, panicked and told him I was going with Dean."

"But why?" Hermione asked still confused, which was a new feeling for her to experience. Ginny started to speak with her hands try to explain her random teenage girl thought process.

"I don't know! I guess I was scared to be hurt again! Or maybe I just didn't think he actually liked me in the first place. I'm not sure. All I know is now I'm going with Dean and will pretend to be dating while Harry is going with Cho Chang." she said in a rush with a droop in her posture.

"Wait, what? Why?" Hermione was starting to get annoyed with how many times she had to say that phrase today.

"I don't know." Ginny was also getting tired of saying _that_ phrase. "I guess he found her pretty or maybe she just wanted to date him because he's the 'Chosen One' or something." She said with a helpless shrug.

Hermione put a comforting hand on her friend's should trying to be of any help.

"I'm sorry. I can go talk to Harry if you'd like. I know how to intimidate him pretty well by know." Hermione said with a spark of mischievous in her eyes. Ginny smiled at the offer but shook her head, "Nah. I'll handle this one."

Just then Dean walked up with a smile on his face and sat next to Ginny.

"Hey sweetheart!" he said with a smile wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

Ginny looked a bit stiff for a moment before relaxing into his side.

"Oh right, we're 'dating' still." She said with finger quotes on the word dating.

Hermione could see that Dean wanted to talk to her alone so she got up to leave. "I'll let you to be. I've got to prep Ron for the ball anyway."

Ginny waved goodbye with a sad smile as she fell into conversation with Dean.

Hermione turned back towards Harry and Ron to see Ron with a sour expression and Harry glaring at the direction from which she came.

She sat down in front of them and looked to Ron in slight concern. "Ronald? Why do you look like you just swallowed an entire grapefruit? Is the orange juice that bad?" she asked adding the joke to lighten the mood.

He gave her a mildly annoyed look before reconstructing his sour face.

"I don't like Dean with my sister." he said with a deep frown.

 _Oh, right. This again._ She rolled her eyes at his ignorance to the situation. Sadly, she was unable to enlighten him at the moment due to Harry siting within earshot.

"Honestly Ronald. They're just friends." she said being honest while also not telling the truth.

Both Ron and Harry turned to her as if she just said "Quidditch is the most useless sport ever."

" _Just friends!_ Hermione, you honestly can't be that naïve!" He quickly backtracked when Hermione gave him a threatening glare.

"What I mean is…" he started over with a hesitant face. "He obviously likes her. Why else would he have asked her to the dance?"

Hermione sighed, wishing she could explain. "We'll talk later Ron. Anyway, we have to go prepare you for the ball tonight."

Ron looked back up from his food in alarm. "But the Yule Ball starts in over ten hours at half-seven (7:30 pm)!"

"Yes and we need to get your dress robes fitted because you have been procrastinating for the past three days! That will take probably 3 hours. Then we need to teach you how to dance which will take 1 hour. I need to have my dress fitted since all my time has been used up preparing the decorations for the ball as well as the entertainment and food so that will take 3 hours. Then I need to do my hair and makeup which will take at least three hours." She took a deep breath and went over what she just said under her breath.

"Wait, that will take ten hours and I still need to do last minute preparations for the ball! We need to move now or we'll be late!" She jumped up and shoved the last of her breakfast in her mouth and gathered her stuff.

Ron was staring at her with his mouth open trying to digest what just happened and what was going to happen. Doing both at the same time resulted in his brain letting go of control of his jaw.

"B-but What about school?"

"SCHOOL!" She said with a facepalm. "I don't know how we are doing this with only a two hour early end schedule but I'll make do."

She started to run towards the doors to head wherever when she turned back around to glare at Ron with such intensity he whimpered.

"RONALD I SWEAR TO MERLIN IF YOU DON'T MOVE—"

Ron scramble to get up and shoved his stuff in his bag before running after his frantic girlfriend.

(Change to Harry POV because we've kinda been ignoring him)

Harry looked after the "happy" couple he calls his friends with a small smile before looking back to his own breakfast.

He sighed as he moved around his scrambled eggs with a fork glancing back up at the scene that made him lose his appetite in the first place.

Ginny was eating breakfast with her new _boyfriend_ Dean Thomas.

No matter how hard he tried to be happy for her, he only felt pure jealousy when he saw them together.

The monster in his chest was back again. Constantly growling and practically eating him alive. Except this time it was joined with the sinking feeling of guilt.

Just when he was wallowing in self-loathing and consider five different ways to stab Dean with his butterknife, a figure slightly larger than him sat down.

Harry turned to give the guy a half hearted nod in acknowledgement, when he was met with the sight of the person that was inadvertently, but actually completely responsible, for his problems.

Cedric gave a weak wave, "Hey Harry."

Harry sighed, "I swear to Dumbledore Cedric if you start stalking me again—"

Cedric could only smile. "I stalk _everyone,_ but that's not why I'm here."

Harry eyed him in suspicion, "Okay, then why are you here?" Cedric gave a mischievous smile that made Harry immediately regret asking.

"Well you see, my parents maybe had a little too much butterbeer on at that New Year's party, and you see one thing led to another…."

"NOPE!" said Harry "I'm good, that's more than enough explanation that I need. Thank you for that lovely little chat, Cedric." He forced a slightly terrified smile, and picked up his bag to go to another table.

"No Harry, wait!" he reached for my arm.

He stopped and looked back at him with a slightly regretful sigh he turned around before sitting back down.

"All joking aside, I just wanted to sit and eat breakfast with someone." he said with a sheepish shrug.

Harry frowned in confusion. "What about your popular friends?" he said gesturing to a group of slightly rowdy guys at the Hufflepuff table.

Cedric followed his line of sight and cringed. "Yeah, well, I wanted to sit with more sane friends."

Harry slowly nodded in understanding before he resumed eating his food. "Okay then."

He heard more than saw Cedric sigh and relax his posture beside him before grabbing a slice of toast.

After a few minutes of silence, Harry resumed his previous task of gloomily glaring at the sappy couple a few seats down.

Harry heard a small sigh from beside him and turned to see Cedric looking the same way, but at something, or rather someone, down at the Ravenclaw table.

Cedric felt Harry staring at him and looked down at him.

They both had a similar expression, small slightly down turned smiles and a deep sadness in their eyes.

"Girl troubles?" Harry nodded. He wasn't surprised that Cedric seemed to have guessed how he was feeling. However, he was surprised at what the other boy said next. "Yeah…. Me too."

 _I'm sorry, what?_

"Uh…" Harry started off confused before turning around to look back at the Ravenclaw table before facing the love struck older teen beside him.

 _Cedric likes Cho?_

…

…

 _Oh crap, why is it that everytime I try to solve my love life I only manage to make it more complicated?_

He resisted the urge to whack his head on the deep mahogany Hogwarts table, scratched with terrible wizard swears of every kind from the passing students.

Cedric looked at the boy in slight alarm as Harry facepalmed himself before gazing once again at Cho. He gave a deep sigh as he gave up trying to smile and formed a frown.

"You're lucky Harry."

At that Harry's posture straightened as he was about to go off at Cedric.

 _Lucky? LUCKY? I'm anything but lucky! My life is a story of failures, death, and Voldemort trying to screw up my life before the school year is over. How am I lucky!?_

Before Harry could voice this opinion, Cedric finished his statement. "I wish I could have someone actually love me for me, not some popular jock, not a charming golden boy" he looked Harry in the eyes, "Not even for a love potion. I just want someone to take the time to know me and maybe, just maybe they'll _actually_ like me." **(AAAAA CEDRIC AND HIS LITTLE EMOTIONS SHHHH DON'T WORRY MY LITTLE CHILD IT WILL BE OKAY ALL IN THE END)**

"Well…." Harry started, "There are some people who just like me for the whole 'Chosen One' thing, and it's stupid."

"Yeah, but you have Ginny."

Harry felt a slight heat in his face and tried to turn around to hide it. That statement hit him harder than he thought it should.

"You're not slick, I saw that." Cedric grinned, "C'mon I just told you my crush."

"How do you _know_ all these things." Harry mumbled trying to hide his annoyance that was more directed at himself than Cedric.

"Well, there are benefits on befriending/stalking the authors of this story. I learn so much gossip through them." he grinned, thinking of all this wonderful knowledge in a really creepy way.

Harry looked at him, confused and oblivious. "Wai, wh—"

Just at that moment, the clock tower struck ten o'clock and it was time for class.

He sighed before grabbing his books and standing up. He waved at Cedric before heading to Charms class.

* * *

(Dean POV)

Dean kept his arm around Ginny as he settled down next to her, maintaining the charade even when Hermione got up to leave.

He stayed like that for a few more minutes, glancing around to see if anyone was watching. When the coast was clear, he recoiled from Ginny and gagged for a bit.

Ginny gave him a dry look. "No need to be so dramatic."

Dean gave her what he, and a few others, had come to call his trademark #Fangirl Offended look.

"Excuse you, but doing this is going against almost all of my natural shipping instincts." he said with a hand to his chest.

Ginny rolled her eyes and ignored him, eating her cereal.

 _Rude._

Dean sighed trying to display his annoyance as well while he looked down and stared at the bland untoasted bread he found on his plate. He looked around to see if anyone else had to face this bland future when he saw Harry a few benches down on the other side of the table enjoying his toast.

 _Lucky!_

While glaring at his toast, he noticed someone sit down partially blocking his view. When he was about to move his glare to them instead, he realized who it was.

"Hey, uh, Ginny?"

She groaned in annoyance. "What is it now Dean?"

"Uh, would you happen to know why Cedric Diggory is talking to Harry Potter?"

At this, Ginny whirled around to look at where Dean was staring.

" _What?!_ " she exclaimed drawing the attention of a few other Gryffindors sitting at their bench.

Dean waved them away with a signature "don't-worry-everything-is-fine" smile as he placed a hand on the angry ginger's back trying to sooth them.

Thankfully, when Dean looked, neither Cedric or Harry noticed her outburst. "Hey Ginny, sweetheart, you can go making outbursts like that or people will think you're crazy." he said in a soothing voice. Dean quickly snatched his hand away from her back when she turned on him, seething in barely contained teenage girl anger.

"How can I just stay calm! He said he didn't like Cedric! That it was all a mistake caused by a stupid love potion! Now they're talking and sitting together like they're besties!" Dean backed away slightly startled and afraid for his own personal safety.

"I don't know? Maybe, maybe they're talking about their O.W.L.s or maybe they're not talking about anything!" He said in a rush trying to calm her down and try to logically consider the possibilities.

They both turned back to see Harry standing with a slightly disturbed face as Cedric sports a mischievous smile.

"See!" Dean said in relief, a smile slowly growing on his face as he looked at Ginny. "It was probably just Cedric up to his stalker ways again. Nothing to worry ab—" he stopped short as Ginny turned his head back around. They both watched Harry sitting back down with Cedric's hand on his arm. Cedric said something with a blush lightly dusting his high cheekbones. Harry's gaze softened as he leaned closer to him seemingly to comfort the other boy.

This time it was Dean who made the loud outburst.

"Oh heck no! Diggory is _not_ roping Harry into another one of his shenanigans! Not on my watch! This ship is gonna sail and Imma bulldoze any iceberg in my sight!" he said getting up to go teach Cedric a lesson.

There is a key rule among all Hogwarts students:

No one messes with Dean's OTP unless they feel like getting something worse than a Dementor kiss.

This time Ginny had to hold him back before he gave the Hufflepuff spinal damage.

"Dean, calm yourself. Think about your therapy words. Say them with me." Dean slowed his breathing as he tried to hear what Ginny said and say the words with her.

"Books, Broadway, Fanfiction, Hamilton, Heathers, Ships, Wattpad. Okay again."

They continued to mutter the words until Dean eventually calmed down enough to take a seat.

"Okay, okay I'm calm now. Thanks Ginny." he said with a grateful smile.

Ginny returned the smile squeezing his hand. "It's alright Dean, you're probably right anyway. It might just be nothing and I'm overreacting." she said before looking back at Harry with a sigh.

"I don't have the right to be upset anyway."

Now Dean was confused. "What? Ginny, you have every right! He cheated on you with him, love potion or not."

She shrugged, still not completely comfortable with talking about it. "I know, but… I let him go Dean. I shouldn't have, but I panicked and messed up. Our relationships probably done for good because of me."

 _Oh no honey. It's not your fault. None of this is._

Dean put a comforting hand on her shoulder and brought the girl into a side hug. "It's alright Ginny. We'll fix this." He said with a kiss to her head.

Ginny chuckled, "I'm assuming people are watching huh?"

"Not many, but that was to let you know I'm here for you and that you are definitely not alone in this."

Ginny squeezed me tightly before breaking our hug. Her eyes were a little glassy, but I knew she wasn't going to cry. She was strong enough to make it through this, one step at a time.

Just then the clock tower struck ten o'clock signalling that it was almost time for class to start.

Both teens gathered their things and walked toward the doors of the Great Hall back out into the corridors of the ancient castle.

Keeping up with the fake dating charade, Dean walked Ginny to her first class. He had his arm wrapped around her shoulders again causing a stir as people watched them. Most with faces of shock and surprise at Dean and Ginny being back together again. After all, Dean made it pretty clear Hinny was his OTP for the past year.

Becoming a bit unnerved by all the stares, Ginny busied herself by focusing on the moving pictures in the posters on the walls advertising the upcoming Gryffindor vs. Slytherin game.

"Wood'll be hyped about that." Dean mumbled under his breath glancing at the posters as he could already imagine the coach stressed out during practice yelling at random people, or trees.

Ginny smiled in amusement at the idea before realization of the harsh time to come hit her like a brick wall.

"Just you wait. The day before he'll be dragging us out at 5 in the morning for emergency practice." Ginny said, shuddering.

"Hope the Slytherin teams don't hog the field." he said, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"Ugh." Ginny agreed.

"Bye!" said Ginny, waving to Dean as she entered her next class.

(To be continued)

 **Next chapter is the Yule Ball!**


	20. Dean Mothers a Small Fish

**Yule Ball chapter, part 2! This one is exciting (one of my favorites)! Cedric and all my other children make a Fizzle Dizzle Spadazzle potion, Draco tries to burn a book, Dean gives birth to a fish and THE RONMIONE SHIP SAAAAAAILLLLSSSSSSSSSS**

 **Enjoy!**

(Students POV)

It was finally here. The Yule Ball.

After all the stress of planning for a band, your date, you dress or dress robes, it was finally here.

The hard work paid off. The Great Hall was an image of grace and caused waves of astonishment to flow through the young spectators as they entered.

Harry and Ron stood side by side by the large doors waiting for their dates to arrive.

Ron groaned for the third time as he scratched his neck.

Harry for the third time stopped his hand, "Mate, if you keep scratching at it, you're going to get a rash." Harry said eyeing the already red area of his friends neck. "Just leave it alone."

Ron grumbled but let go of his collar to stiffly cross his arms with a pout. His child like behavior out of place with the elegant setting and his formal clothes, but what else would you expect from Ron Weasley?

"I hate getting dressed up. The clothing is always too big or too tight. And I'm always itchy!" He said as his resolve broke and he started to fervently scratch around his collar.

Harry just sighed as he turned his attention back to the stairs scanning through a crowd of students for the girls, some of which looked hopefully in his direction, although he was secretly searching for Ginny. And perhaps Cho, if that would get girls to stop bothering him.

As Harry's mind began to wander, Hermione practically skipped into the room.

Harry heard gasps all around and turned to see his friend captivate the room as if she cast a spell on them all by her appearance alone. Knowing Hermione, she actually probably was.

The once frizzy haired bookworm was hardly recognizable.

Her mascara darkening her eyelashes with sky blue eyeshadow the look altogether making her amber eyes seem to sparkle. She wore a beautifully lacy, light, periwinkle blue dress. Her smiling face was framed by some escaping curls of her finally-tamed hair that was styled in an elegant bun.

Ron, being the oblivious person he was, still looked around the crowd trying to discover the cause of the gasping.

Harry rolled his eyes and gave him a light tap on the shoulder.

Ron looked at him in confusion, "What? Do I have dirt on my face again?" he said frantically rubbing at his face.

 _Why do I have such a dumb friend?_

Harry shook his head with a sigh and just took it upon himself to shove the ginger towards his waiting date.

Finally noticing Hermione's sudden appearance, Ron gave a little gasp at the sight of her seeming at a loss for words. Harry smirked, moving his eyes to the crowd so that he wouldn't have to spend the Yule Ball third-wheeling on their relationship, again.

He gazed across the Great Hall, filled with gaggles of girls, and looked over the walls done up in elegant Yule Ball decorations, stunning in all their magic.

His eyes lighted on the punch bowl, where Cedric was playing the traditional muggle role of awkwardly standing by the punch bowl. He chuckled under his breath, as he watched Cedric in a dark muggle hoodie over his fancy black dress robes, the black hood about his face. He sparkled a bit as his skin caught the color of the lights, and he cast purposefully shady looks about the room.

Cedric caught Harry's eye, and wiggled his eyebrows in his usual creepy manner, making him laugh.

Only a few weeks ago, he would have gone to great lengths just to avoid Cedric, but it was different now. Harry walked through the crowd over there, attempting to make his way through clouds of perfume and cologne, and of course the typical "Chosen One" glances he got all day.

As he got there, he saw Dean join Cedric there. Dean grinned like a crazy person, of course. Dean was a matchmaker and this was a ball. It was like the battlefield for the soldier. He was definitely in his element. Harry swallowed his bitter feelings for Dean and walked over, trying to look casual in his fancy attire.

Cedric smiled as he gained another sparkle, this time in his eyes. "Ah Harry! How nice of you to join us! Punch?" he said already pouring Harry a cup.

 **(Now kids, let's analyze this situation. First off, they are teenage boys at a punch bowl at a party. Second, these boys, being of magical blood, have access to potions. And lastly, Cedric is there. This cannot go well in any scenario, well unless Hermione magically shows up.)**

Harry hesitated but shrugged and took a shot of the punch. **(Harry I raised you better than this!)** He felt it burn as it went down his throat.

 _Wait punch is supposed to be sweet, not burn in your throat. Right?_

 _Oh well._

Harry didn't know why, but he felt some presence shaking his head at his actions in parental disapproval.

After he finished taking another shot of the strange punch, Cedric pulled out several powders and bottles, smiling happily.

 _Oh no…_

"Who's ready for some potion brewing?" said Cedric enthusiastically.

"I brought some love potions!" added Dean happily.

"Really?" asked Harry, laughing as he joined the conversation. "You're a matchmaker, you are supposed to fix relationships, not ruin them!"

"Shh…" said Dean.

"No one needs to know." added Cedric **(SUBTLE HAMILTON REFERENCE) (It was subtle before you put that there.)(Woah, it's a OXYMORON MY VOCAB WORD FOR THE DAYYYY)(That's not an oxymoron something like "act natural" is an oxymoron.)**

"Let's brew the potion, guys!" said Dean, strategically surveying the room.

"Um, what are we brewing?" asked Harry.

"Well, no love potion, because I don't like my work ruined," began Dean, "The love potion is simply an ingredient for _another_ potion."

"It's a prank." added Cedric smiling.

The two of them grinning together made them almost resemble the Weasley twins.

 _Oh no…._ Thought Harry once again _That's a bad sign._

Then he grinned. "Let's do it." **( Harry… I raised you better than this child.)(#Author regrets.)**

They huddled in the back of the gym, and Cedric spread out a potions book like a battle map.

"That's from the restricted section." observed Harry.

Cedric looked up at him, and smiled. "Shhhh…"

Harry rolled his eyes and laughed.

The book was nearly well-worn, and bore many scribbles and notes in the margins, clearly from less well-meaning students.

Dean suppressed a gasp as he saw the elder swear written on the side, followed by some gruesome images of death.

"Aww, sorry, my child." said Cedric comfortingly, hugging Dean. Dean shrugged him off, with a small frown, "I'm not your son."

The name of the potion was the Fizzle Dizzle Spadazzle Potion. **(I did not agree to that. Blame RainbowBarfingUnicorn) (Hey!)**

"This one is real creative." Cedric breathed in reverence.

"I bet." said Harry, raising his eyebrows, "How long have you guys been planning this?"

"Since two hours before the ball." answered Dean honestly, "We had to do a surprise raid of Snape's cabinet."

Cedric pulled out a plastic cup and spoon, and poured in a yellow powder, and mixed in with a venomous-looking purple goo with chunks. It sizzled softly, and he added a bone, and it turned red, and a small creature began to swim about in it. It's little eyes peered up from the surface curiously at the three guys.

"Did I just mother a small fish…?" asked Dean concerned, "I wasn't expecting parenthood this early."

"Hmm" giggled Cedric, as he pulled out a chicken wishbone. **(I'm so sorry PJOandHP4life. One of yours died in the making of this potion.)(-_-)**

He snapped it in half and put the smaller half into the potion.

Then Fred and George showed up.

"Hey guys what's—" began George.

"Up?" finished Fred in their usual fashion.

"Woah, this is awesome!" said George.

Fred nodded along in excitement. "I knew I smelled a scheme going on over here. Told ya Georgie." he said smirking.

George shoved his shoulder. "Shut it nitwit." he said with trying to be upset while he fought off a smile.

"If I'm a nitwit, then you are too since we have the same DNA nitwit."

Before George could respond back, Dean grabbed their shoulders.

"Guys! Let's get back to business."  
He said gesturing to the potions book and punch bowl.

The twins stopped their bickering, for now, as Fred grabbed the book and quickly scanned it's contents.

"This is the Fizzle Dizzle Spadazzle Potion if I'm not mistaken." said Fred intelligently.

"Very original." smirked George approvingly.

"Been a while since we have seen this one, eh, George?" said Fred.

"Yes it has." agreed George.

The potion began to turn purple and brown and was bubbling violently.

Cedric swore under his breath.

Harry turned, and saw Umbridge turn and look in their direction, she eyed them in suspicion before her face split into a disgusting, hopeful smile.

"Quick!" said Harry urgently under his breath "Hide the potion!"

Dean picked up the red plastic cup that they had been brewing in, and handed it to Cedric, who hid it under his shady hoodie.

Fred and George put on their best innocent expressions.

Umbridge turned and looked them over from a distance, disappointed to see nothing she could punish them for. Draco and Goyle cast them not-so-subtle glances, waiting for something to happen. Crabbe peered at them over the mounds of cake he held in his chubby fists, and was now attempting to shovel into his face.

"Guys…" said Harry, "Maybe we should move our potion-brewing somewhere else."

"Good idea." said Dean.

Cedric grinned, and crept towards the door gracefully, sparkling a bit on the way.

They ducked out into the hallway, trying to look casual, as they turned into the Room of Requirement.

The five of them sat in a circle around the red party cup, that Cedric took out of his hoodie.

The contents were now a dark indigo, steamed and hissed quietly.

"Only three more ingredients…" said Dean in anticipation.

"What do we have left?" asked Harry curiously, his memory was becoming foggier by the second.

"Pixie wings," said George.

"A bottle of love potion," continued Fred.

"And a bit of moonlight." finished George.

"Brilliant." Harry breathed, feeling a little light headed as he sipped his punch.

Cedric pulled out five pixie wings which were translucent, and striped in rainbow.

With a small knife, he sliced them lengthwise with terrifying precision, and plopped them in, stirring lengthwise.

"So." said Fred as he leaned on Cedric's left side.

"Cedric." grinned George following his brother's example and leaning on the sparkly boy's right side.

"Well, well we've heard you've got a special someone on the side bro?" smirked Fred.

Cedric blushed slightly before trying to pull together his regular stalker persona, but too late.

Fred and George grinned widely. Dean simply smiled knowingly, having known this for a while.

There are certain advantages to being the matchmaker of the school and being on a first-name basis with the authors of this fic. **(Yeah what's up Dean! We still on for butterbeer tomorrow right?)**

The potion turned translucent, the fizzling calming after the addition of the pixie wings, and unassuming for a moment, although there were small fish swimming about within it. The small yellow fish from before bobbed its head to the surface, and looked up at Dean with its wide, hopeful eyes.

 **(I, PJOandHP4life, personally appoligize for the crack you are about to read.)**

 **(XD)**

"Mommy?" it asked in a little voice.

"Voldemort's nipple," swore Dean in horror.

"Mommy!" giggled the little fish, swimming about in circles, gazing happily up to Dean.

"Not the usual reaction." quipped Cedric frowning in thought before looking through the potions book.

"You really shouldn't teach your daughter such language." added Fred helpfully.

"See you later!" bubbled the happy little fish, returning to the bottom of the red plastic dixie cup.

"Should we add the love potion now?" asked Harry.

"Uh, yeah, um I mean, yes." said Dean still recovering from the shock of suddenly being a

father.

Dean picked up the pink bottle off the ground, and poured it in slowly, in circles, as the instructions said, and the potion sank in to the bottom, and began to spiral as if of its own will.

"It needs moonlight now." said Harry, consulting the book.

Fred and George picked it up, and hurried it over to one of the large windows on the side of the cluttered room.

Beams of moonlight passed from the large window, which outlooked the Quidditch fields, and dark roses grew across the window.

As soon as the moonlight hit it, it turned a darker pink, and sparkled slightly, like Edward.

It was awesome.

"Woah," said Harry, taken aback by the mystery and wonder of this potion.

"Let's go spike the punch with this potion!" exclaimed Dean in excitement.

Cedric grinned creepily, and George and Fred said "Yeah!" in unison.

They all ran towards the door in celebration.

The door swung open fast, and right there was Draco, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" said Draco, reciting the most cliche villain line ever created.

"Hmph." snorted/grunted Crabbe between mouthfuls of cookies in agreement.

"A bunch of delinquents, cooking up a potion? What would Umbridge think of this?" Draco sneered.

Harry stared at him in shock.

"Is this a book from the restricted section?" asked Draco nastily "You peasants had to steal it. I could have gotten it through the black market any day."

The five stared blankly at him.

"I hate books." said Draco **(It is taking all my willpower not to kick Draco out of this fic right now, honestly.) (Same.)** "Why don't I just burn it?"

At this point, Harry looked horrified, and for good reason. He also felt some presence feeling parental pride looking down at him.

Goyle snored a bit, as he fell asleep against a wall.

"Goyle, what is the spell for lighting something on fire?" Draco asked.

"Expecto Patronum." mumbled Goyle.

"No, you imbecile!" exclaimed Draco in frustration, "Ugh, I will just destroy it!"

Completely without warning, he pointed his wand at it and yelled " _ARIUS-_ "

He dropped over, paralyzed.

Right behind him was Hermione, with her wand in her outstretched hand.

She stood there in her fancy periwinkle dress with some of it balled up in her other hand.

The young witch sent out a glare that caused all of the boys to shiver.

They all felt the same resonating feeling of being in big trouble with a figure in authority.

She walked up to Draco, and looked down at him, being taller in her heels.

"By the way," she said "The correct spell is Promethium."

Draco glared up at her silently. He tried to form a sneer but his bottom lip wouldn't stop trembling.

"Thanks Hermione!" chimed in the Weasley twins, breaking the stiff mood.

The two began to walk backwards toward the door before breaking into a run.

Harry, Dean and Cedric looked between their retreating figures and the scary witch in front of them.

Hermione shrugged, dropping her stern look for the time being, "I'll scold them later." She turned around and began to walk out, her heels clicking against the stone floor.

After a few seconds she turned back around to look at the boys. "Well, aren't you coming?"

Harry realized what she meant first and got the other two to follow her back into the converted ballroom.

The boys walked back into the ongoing Yule Ball to the punch bowl, where Neville was now taking up residence, fiddling with his thumbs and reading a Herbology textbook quietly.

"I think I did a better job at the punch bowl role." Cedric whispered to Harry.

"I dunno, Neville sure is a lot more awkward." Harry whispered back.

Dean pulled out the spectacular potion and poured it into the punch bowl stealthily.

More and more drunk party guests came back for punch, and the line was already a mile long.

"Just you wait." said Dean.

"Just you wait." sang Harry back.

Dean looked at him.

"Sorry, it's a musical thing." Harry said sheepishly. The twins popped back up out of nowhere to join them now that Hermione was gone.

"George and I have a whole lot of fireworks saved up for this!" said Fred excitedly.

"Yeah, we are just waiting for the potion effects to set in." added George.

"More chaos."

"All the better!"

(To be continued)

 **If you think the story is weird now, just wait for next chapter!**


	21. Helpless

**In this chapter, Dean's every shipper's dream comes true, and Ronmione sails away.**

 **Enjoy!**

(Ron POV)

 _HOLYCRAPSHELOOKSBLOODYAMAZING!_

Ron could hardly properly form thoughts when he looked at her.

He was fairly certain he was losing his mind.

Ron and Hermione were attempting to dance, although the crowd was so filled with horrible dancers that Ron's stumbles hardly mattered. Hermione's hands were on his shoulders and his hands were on her waist as they attempted to waltz in circles to blaring American wizard pop music, strategically avoiding the Slytherin crowd where Pansy Parkinson was trying to inappropriately dance in front of Malfoy, but was only succeeding in getting curved.

And Ron was doing all he could not to slip on the floor or step on Hermione's feet as he tried to dance.

"Want to go get some punch?" asked Hermione with a knowing smile.

"Uh, sure!" he grinned like an idiot, and resisted the desire to fix his hair. He already knew for a fact he looked a mess, as usual.

They walked through crowds of people on their way to the punch bowl, where George and Fred were already placing bets on a chugging competition, which made for a very loud crowd of teenage witches and wizards. Ron looked into the bowl.

He could have sworn it shimmered.

He gaped at it.

"What's wrong?" asked Hermione innocently, pouring him some into a cup.

 _Oh, I see._ Even Ron had moments when he was somewhat intelligent.

"Ladies first." he answered chivalrously.

Hermione smirked at him over her cup. "You're getting better at this."

He blushed a little, but luckily she didn't see, because she was looking down at the cup.

"Then again, this could be poison and in that case it would be best if you drank first to ensure my safety."

Ron sputtered, surprised by the sudden accusation.

Hermione laughed at his beet red face. "I was just kidding! You've got to be more chill Ron." she smiled taking a sip from the cup.

"Mmm…" she hummed happily. "Tastes like pineapples."

"Does it?" he asked, looking up at her.

She smiled. "Don't try to change the subject. It's your turn."

"Alright then." he agreed.

He sipped from the cup, and it was wonderful. It really did taste like pineapples.

That was around when everything went to crap.

Down from the area were the chugging was commencing, a ferret crawled out of a wizard's ear, who was running around screaming like a little girl.

"THERE'S A WEASEL IN MY EAR! THERE'S A WEASEL IN MY EAR!"

Hermione turned around to face him.

"Ugh, that is a ferret, not a weasel! Look at the clear markings around the ears and chest!" she answered, back to her normal annoyed-nerd voice.

Ron found it amusing, especially when it wasn't directed at him.

"IT'S IN MY EAR! I CAN'T SEE IT!" he responded, hysterical.

Fred and George high-fived.

A small yellow ferret fell out of Ron's ear.

"Bloody hell, it's Malfoy's cousin!" he exclaimed, picking it up. Hermione suppressed a small laugh.

The student mass was screaming and laughing as ferrets began to fall out of several ears around the punch bowl.

That's when the fireworks began to go off.

The whole room was filled with confetti and streamers, pink, gold, rainbow, green fell from the ceiling with large bangs, as glitter covered the floor of the Great Hall. Sparkles and fairy dust flew through the air, and soon a full-fledged glowing and immaterial dragon flew through the room, shocking the crowd.

People slipped on glitter on the floor, and ferrets attempted to crawl out of the large, chaotic room of crazy people as fast as they could. People screamed at the dragon, a few tried to cast curses on it, but they flew through, hitting other people, and leaving them stunned on the ground, or without their wands.

In the back of the Great Hall, Cedric smirked and pulled his dark hood down farther, obscuring his face. Harry, Neville, and Dean were there, grinning like this was the best moment of their life.

Then someone called Dean's name.

"Dean!" called Ginny, running into the crowd of boys. She smiled at Harry like nothing at all was wrong, and he caught his breath for a moment before smiling back.

"So, um, this is going to sound really weird, but um, this fish is looking for its mom…"

Ginny pulled out her cupped hands which held a little golden fish, which, for some strange reason, was doing just fine out of water.

The little fishie looked up.

"It's mommy!" it exclaimed, looking up to Dean with a happy little expression. It was so tiny and adorable.

"Uh…" said Ginny.

"It's a long story." said Dean.

Harry grinned wider, and leaned on the glitter encrusted wall.

Ginny and Harry looked at each other for a moment.

Dean tried very hard not to smile very wide.

"Um Ginny? I know we aren't in the best place right now… but would you like to share a dance." Harry said nervously, holding out a sweaty hand.

She thought it over for a moment and smiled. "Of course." she replied, handing the little fish to Dean, and taking his hand.

They walked onto the dance floor.

Dean watched them and wiped a tear from his face.

"My ship sails!" he said emotionally.

Cedric grinned stalkerishly and handed him a box of Kleenex, on which Dean dabbed his face, and then blew his nose very loudly.

Cedric patted him on the back.

"There, there." he said.

"This is what happens when you become a fangirl of your own AU, Cedric. You go entirely insane." Dean sniffled into Cedric's hoodie.

"You have been sane?" Cedric asked in mock surprise, causing Dean to slap him in the face with the hand he wasn't holding the fish in.

Cedric laughed.

"I don't think you should teach your daughter such behavior, Dean." chided Cedric, sparkling slightly.

Dean pouted.

"What will you name her anyways?"

Dean looked down at the little fish.

"I don't have a name!" it said.

 _So tiny and yellow and bright…. What will I name it?_

"She's Peggy." decided Dean, and the little fish hopped around his palm in excitement.

"Peggy! I'm Peggy!"

Suddenly, A Winter's Ball instrumental began playing.

"That's our cue." mumbled Dean.

"What?" said Cedric

"C'mon."

Dean dragged him through the crazy mess of the Great Hall, and though a door where the survivors of George and Fred's prank brushed glitter off themselves and pulled ferrets out of their ears, and a small crowd gathered around Harry as he stood on a table, rapping.

* * *

"How does the Weasley, pureblood, clumsy ginger… go on and on to gain the affections of a Granger."

"Watch this self conscious, ignorant, loud mouth mister… go forth and find a date before his sister."

Everyone stopped and looked at Harry.

"What? I mean, Ron's my best mate and all but I honestly thought he would end up going with Scabbers or something." Everyone considered this and slowly nodded in begrudging agreement. "Hey I heard that guys!"

 **(Why do we bully Ron so much?)(Because it's fun and Neville gets bullied enough.)**

"Now Weasley's surprising relationship skills are undeniable but what do we have in common?"

"Oh no not again..." mumbled Hermione as she looked on in dread for the next verse.

The guys and girls all looked between each other with mischievous smiles on their faces.

"We reliable with…"

"Quidditch!"

"The games can go on for hours!"  
"Quidditch!"

"The Snitch proximity to power!"

"Quidditch!"

"The game delighted and distracted him—"

"McGonagall nicknamed the Slytherin losing streak after him."

Draco looked at Ginny in confusion.

"Hey wait a sec—"

"It's true!" McGonagall said walking past.

 _Where did she come from…?_

"Anyway mate…" Harry said stretching the e.

"At the Yule Ball and Ron is the envy of all." Cho said looking around at all the guys eyeing Hermione or glaring at Ron in jealousy.

"Yo, if you want Granger you've got my permission." Cho said clapping Ron on the shoulder in a motherly manner.

"She's not your daughter you know." Ginny said with a smile a her behavior.

Cho shrugged. "So? Everyone is my child." Ginny raised an eyebrow but let it go. Dean walked up and overheard Cho. "Wait, no. Everyone is MY child. You're gonna have to fight me for custody. I was here first witch." **(DEAN MY CHILD OH HE IS LEARNING SO FAST)**

Cho raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow. "How about we share custody?" Dean looked hesitant but nodded. "Alright, but I get to take the prom pictures."

"Uh, we don't have prom so this is basically it."

Dean paled at the realization. "Crap. I'll be right back!" he said running off and mumbling about a camera.

"Okay then, well, getting back to the song." Cho said looking to Hermione.

"Well, is it a question of if or who's my competition?"

Cho smiled proud. _That's my son._

"Hey!" Neville said trying to join the conversation.

Hermione smiled and decided to roll with it and transition into the next song. "Hey~"

Neville looked at her strangle before turning to Harry instead.

"Hey!"

Harry smiled and followed Hermione's lead catching on. "Hey~"

Neville, still oblivious, turned to Cho for an explanation. "Uh, hey?"

Cho winked, "Hey~"

Neville stood there incredibly confused as to why his friends were being so flirty all of a sudden.

"Hey, hey…"

Neville decided to try talking to Ron instead.

"Hey R—"

"Ooooo! I do, I do, I do, I doooo~ Hey!" he sang gleefully twirling Neville around.

The poor guy stumbled back completely confused about what was going on.

"Um, guys?" He looked around in confusion as he was suddenly surrounded by girls and guys alike saying "hey" with a suspiciously suggestive tone.

"Ooooo! I do, I do, I do, I doooo~ Girl you got me—"

" _Helpless_!" he sang with the support of many other girls that were dancing at the ball.

Neville finally realized what was going on. "Oh! You guys are singing Hamilton s—"

"NEVILLE SHUT UP WEASLEY IS TRYING TO SING!" Draco yelled surprising everyone.

They all stared at him and he started to blush. "What? I like this song…."

Everyone only looked even more shocked.

"What?! DON'T JUDGE ME!" he yelled and ran out.

Ron shrugged and got back to singing.

"Look into your eyes and the sky's the limit I'm—"

" _Helpless!_ " they other girls sang again dancing along with Ron in amazing synchronization.

"Down for the count, and I'm drownin' in 'em."

He drifted to the center of the ball floor as a spotlight followed his every move.

"I have never been the type to try and grab the spotlight. We were at a revel with some rebels on a hot night." he said pointing a thumb over at his twin brothers who could be seen back at the punch bowl mixing the spoon in a totally not suspicious way.

"Laughin' at my sister as she's dazzlin' the room." she sang as Ginny danced gracefully twirling with Dean as the two laughed.

"Then you walked in and my heart went ' _boom_!'" Ron looked over at Hermione and remembered how he practically swooned when she walked down the stairs in her gown.

"Tryin' to catch your eye from the side of the ballroom." Ron sang as he tried to get Hermione's attention but she was distracted as she talked with Luna and Cho.

"Everybody's dancin' and the band's top volume." he said looking over at the "Weird Sister" playing elegant classical music which was a change from the usual rock.

 _Wait that actually sounds a lot like Hamilton…._

"Grind to the rhythm as we wine and dine." he sang with a laugh as he saw Neville dancing, quite suggestively, with what looked like a…

 _Wait is that a plant?!_

Ron paused confused at the sight but was quickly pulled back into the song as he heard Hermione laughed, humored by the sight as well.

Ron anxiously searched for Ginny seeing her with Dean dancing.

"Grab my sister and whisper... 'Yo, this one's mine.'" he sang into Ginny's ear pulling back with a pleading pout.

Ginny rolled her eyes and gestured for him to stay there.

"My sister made her way across the hall to you…" Ron sang softly as Ginny walked confidently to Hermione.

" _Oooo!_ " the other girls sang watching the scene unfold with Ron.

"And I get nervous thinkin', "What's she gonna doooo?" Ron sang sweating nervously as he saw Hermione turn to Ginny.

" _Oooo!_ "

"She grabbed you by the arm, I'm thinkin', "I'm through." Ron sang as his anxiety peaked. There was no way he'd handle this smoothly in his current state.

" _Oooo!_ "

Ginny said something to Hermione and gestured to Ron's anxious form.

His face turned as red as Neville's Remembrall.

Hermione glanced over with curiosity and displayed a dazzling smiled once she caught his gaze.

"Then you look back at me and suddenly I'm—"

" _Helpless!_ "

Her eyes sparkled in humor. The hazel eyes lighting up the room, complimented by the sky blue eyeshadow.

"Oh... look at those eyes… Oh~"

"Look into your eyes and the sky's the limit!" the other girls repeatedly sang as they swooned over their own dates.

"Yeah I'm—"

" _Helpless!_ "

"I know…"

"Down for the count and I'm drownin' in 'em!" They sang.

"I'm _helpless!_ "

"I'm so into you… I am so into you!" Ron sang passionately as Hermione walked started to walk over with Ginny. "I know I'm—"

"—Down for the count and I'm drownin' in 'em." he sang with the other helpless witches in the room.

"Where are you taking me?" Hermione asked as Ginny led you through the dancing couples.

Ginny smiled mischievously. "To your knight in shining armor of course. I'm about to change your _life_."

Hermione chuckled and played along. "Then by all means, lead the way."

After weaving through many lovestruck couples, awkward teenage wizards, and jumping over Neville's toad, the two finally made it to Ron.

Ron had progressively blushed more and more as Hermione got closer. He had considered situations as simple as him stumbling over his words and as drastic as him summoning an evil demon to eat her.

He took a deep breath and smiled, albeit nervously, at his date.

"Ronald Weasley. It's a pleasure to see you." _A pleasure to see you!? What kind of a greeting is that! I sound as superficial as McLaggen!_

Hermione giggled, which was an unusual sight, and curtsied gracefully.

"Hello Mr. Weasley." she said with a smile.

Ginny grinned. "That's my brother for you." she said still chuckling over his awkward greeting.

"Thank you for agreeing to be my date." Ron quickly shut his mouth and covered it with his hands.

 _You absolute idiot! You don't thank someone for going out with you!_

"If it takes a makeover for you to be this flustered, it will have been worth it." She said with a twinkle in her eyes.

It seemed impossible, but Ron somehow blushed even more.

Ginny smiled at the couple. "I leave you to it." she walked back to Dean but not without a wink.

She whispered something in Dean's ear and he smiled maliciously.

He made direct eye contact with Ron over Hermione's shoulder and made kissy faces.

Ron tried valiantly to ignore him even as Dean walked by whisper yelling, "Make my ship sail Weasley, or I'm coming for you!" His smile turned truly evil as eye made intense eye contact.

Ron gulped and nodded as he offered Hermione a dance.

"Would you like to dance?" he asked although it sounded more like "Love at first glance."

"I'm sorry what?" Hermione asked hearing the latter.

Ron's ears were burning as he repeated himself slowly.

 _Come on Ron! It just 5 small words._

 **[Like: Would you marry me Hermione? ; )] (MY SHIPPPP)**

"Would you… like to, uh, dance?" he stuttered out. "W-with me?" he added to make sure she knew what he meant. **(Honestly though Ron, who else would you be asking her to dance with?)**

Hermione shook her head amused. "Well of course. Why else would I attend the ball with you if I didn't want to dance?"

 _Oh right. That makes sense._

He held out his arm praying his armpits weren't sweaty. Hermione took it and they drifted toward the center of the room dancing.

"So." said Ron smoothly, while pulling a rainbow ferret out of his ear. "Enjoy the punch?" he smirked.

"It was delicious." said Hermione, looking up into his eyes.

"Really, what did they do to it, anyways?"

"Forbidden potions." she stated matter-of-factly.

"Really?" he raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, yeah. I had to rescue that poor book from Malfoy." She shuddered at the thought of a book being burned at such ignorant hands.

"God forbid a textbook should be burned." said Ron sarcastically.

Hermione laughed. "Oh, shut up!"

"I mean, of course, hypothetically, if you got to skip a project because you burned a textbook, wouldn't that at least be like kind of worth it." he said.

"You sound as bad as Malfoy!" Hermione accused.

"Not possible." Ron shook his head, grinning.

"Although, at least you probably know your spells." Hermione said assertively.

Ron looked guilty. "Wingardium leviosa?" he asked.

Hermione huffed playfully. "No, it's pronounced levi-OH-sa…"

Ron tried to hide a smile. "Um, levi-OW-sa."

"That was even on our OWL exams." Hermione shook her head, smiling.

"Do you really think that I did well on those?" Ron said.

"Hopefully you didn't fail them." said Hermione optimistically.

"Aren't you a little ray of sunshine?" said Ron.

"I'm a realist." said Hermione honestly.

He smiled. "You tell it like it is."

She smiled up at him. "Exactly."

"One week before!" The girls sang in narration.

"We studied together nightly. All my grades got better every spell that you'd cite me."

The song pauses and the music is dimmed as Ron is seen sitting in the Gryffindor common room with Hermione as she goes over spells.

"I still can't believe you can't properly lift a feather Ronald!"

Ron blushes sheepishly. "What!? It's harder than it looks!"

She rolled her eyes. "How hard can it really be? All you have to say is Win-GAR-dium levi-O-sa." she said this and with a simple swish and flick of her wand, easily causing the father quill to levitate slightly above them.

Ron sighed, "I know! It's just… why does the pronounciation have to be so specific?"

Hermione laughed and ruffled his hair. "Get used to it."

Ron smiled as the music resumed and the song continued.

"Laughin' at McLaggen, cuz he wants to form a harem."

McLaggen walked in and seeing Hermione, he immediately went into full on flirt mode.

"I'm just saying if you really loved her you should share her."

He puffing out his chest, and winking in a way he clearly thought was dashing (but wasn't at all.) Hermione cringed and leaned a little closer to Ron as if to say _Already taken, sorry._

Dean busted in the room. "HAH!" he exclaimed and then proceeded to drag McLaggen to his ultimate doom.

Ron shrugged and the two continued studying.

"Two minutes later!" the girls sang as the setting returned to the present as the memory faded away.

"In the dining hall stressin'. Dean's here teachin' ol' McLaggen a lesson."

Dean peeked through the door window at them with a smile on his face and wiped away a few more fangirl tears while bashing McLaggen upside the head with the forbidden potions tome.

"I'm dyin' inside as the twins bust a rhyme."

The twins could be seen in fact "bustin' a rhyme" on the stage to the admiration of quite a few girls. A whole lot of guys were drumming the table in rhythm and laughing over the big noise.

"And I'm tryin' not to cry cause there's nothing that your mind can't do…." sang Ron, smiling over the ruins of the party.

" _Oooo!_ " the other girls sang as they watched the scene unfold with Ron.

Hermione looked over worriedly at Umbridge, who was beginning to rise up out of the chaos, and was turning over to the dance floor in their direction, red-faced in anger.

"Umbridge made her way across the room to you…"

" _Oooo!_ "

"And I panic for a second, thinking, 'We're screwed.'"

" _Oooo!_ "

The large, seemingly immaterial dragon swooped down, and dragged Umbridge out the door and down the hall by her heavily styled curls, much to the cheers and ecstasy of the other students.

"But then a dragon takes her down, and we say 'Adieu.'" Hermione gave a happy little wave at the door.

"And you turn back to me, smiling, and I'm…" Ron sang holding out the I for _very_ long.

" _Helpless!_ Look into your eyes and the sky's the limit!" the other girls sang twirling around the happy couple.

"Helplessss…" Hermione sang to Ron.

"Down for the count and I'm drownin' in 'em!" could be heard being sung by girls of the surrounding couples.

Luna was seen dancing through yelling. "WOOO!" Her nargle glasses were hanging from her face as they halfway fell off. Neville pretended to be reading his Herbology textbook, but he was notably blushing. Seems he doesn't only have a thing for plants.

"Helplesssssssssss…. That boy is mine, that boy is miiiiiinnneeee…"

"Look into your eyes and the sky's the limit, I'm—"

" _Helpless!_ " Ron sang with the other girls.

"Down for the count and I'm drownin' in 'em!"

Then Ron started rapping.

"Hermione, I don't have a Knut to my name.

Not a drop of magic, it's a bit tragic, but all the same.

All I have is my food, a few enemies to maim,

A couple of Quidditch victories and a top notch game." he said once again turning to bragging about Quidditch and his wizard chess set.

"Insane, all our friends bring out a different side in me

Harry confides in me, Neville is always trying to fight me

No stress, his fighting skill are always in doubt

One day we'll graduate from Hogwarts and we'll figure it out

This school has been insane ever since I was a child

Cedric stalks us, Dean ships us, and dragons run wild

But I'll never forget your face, so beautiful and real

And as long as I'm alive, Hermione I swear to God you'll never feel so…"

"Helpless…" sang the chorus of witches.

"I do I do I do I do…." sang Hermione happily

"Hermione…" sang Ron.

"I do I do I do I do! Hey!"

"I've never felt so—"

"Yeah, yeah…"

"Helpless… Down for the count—" sang the chorus.

"Said I'm down for the count I'm—"

" _Helpless!_ " the chorus repeatedly sang.

"My life is gonna be fine, cuz Hermione's in it!" said Ron.

"I look into your eyes and the sky's the limit, I'm…" sang Hermione.

"Down for the count and I'm drownin' in 'em…." sang the students again.

In the background Dean was playing a wedding march and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

 _Boys._ thought Hermione.

"In Hogwarts you can be a new man…"

"In Hogwarts you can be a new man…"

"In Hogwarts you can be a newwww mannnn…"

"Helpless…" sang Hermione.

The instrumental dramatically cut off, leaving the crazy students to run back to their dorm rooms as the Yule Ball came to a close.

Coincidentally the clock tower struck midnight a few seconds later.

"Alright students!" Dumbledore called out to those still left.

"As you can see it has reach midnight and we've all stayed up _way_ past our usual curfew. Time for bed!"

He paused as his attention was caught by the Weasley twin snickering at the punch bowl. "Oh yes, right. And you two. The twins." Fred and George looked up very slowly, they've heard that tone enough times to know whatever follows can't be good.

"Detention. Meet Professor Snape in his office every day next week. I'm sure you will learn how to _properly_ brew potions."

The twins gulped as Snape glared at them in his usual manner, flipping his majestic black hair.

"I told you we should've waited for our senior year before trying this." George whispered to his brother.

"Shut it, George." Fred whispered back as the two slumped off to bed.

Just then Draco entered the Ball room with some toilet paper stuck to the end of his dress shoes.

"Sorry guys. Just needed a bathroom break."

Cedric chuckled from his sketchy corner, his dark hood covering his eyes.

He looked around to see most of the students were gone.

"So… What'd I miss?"

 **PJOandHP4life did that What'd-I-miss ending and it is majestic.**

 **I apologize for some of my terrible substitute lyrics, but this chapter was fun!**


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